American Gothic: Family Matters
by goblinesque
Summary: An ex senator is in an unexplainable coma and his young lawyer wife is the prime suspect. A young reporter tries to unlock the small town politics of Trinity, South Carolina. There are some ghosts of the past that Salome Martin and Lucas Buck refuse to let the public see. Both are willing to sacrifice a high death toll if the outcome turns in their own favors.
1. Red Right Hand

**So here's the deal, I don't own anyone but my own characters (which there are a few). This is my idea for a second season. **

**Here's the character list & how I see them:**

**Salome "Sally May" Martin- Courtney Cox**

**Albert "Bert" Martin- Martin Short**

**Abigail "Abby" White- Charlize Theron (like 90s version Charlize Theron)**

**Mary Murphy- Christina Ricci**

**Craig Healy- Wes Bentley**

**Zachery Wallace- Zachary Quinto**

* * *

******Chapter 1: Red Right Hand**

"_This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine"-Harry Dixon_

Abigail White sat at her desk with her back straight as she typed frantically at her computer screen. Her deadline was coming soon and if she wanted her _hard news breaking story_ on the heat wave and its effects on the local ice cream food chains printed then she had to finish it quickly. The usual boring, shit stories were always handed to her. She was never given the chance to deliver the great stories that her predecessor had once reported.

Gail Emory, her predecessor, lay in a coma in a hospital in Trinity, a dirt water town about a two hour drive away from Charleston, South Carolina. No one knew exactly what had happened and no one ever questioned it. She was given the girl's position but was never handed any of her great stories. It seemed like a chore rather than a career to her.

She sighed and ran her hand through her bleach blonde hair that stopped just under her ears, a haircut that fit the times that they were now living in, the millennium had come and gone, and with it so did her long hair and her enjoyment of the male body.

Abby smiled as she looked at the picture that sat upon her cluttered desk. It was a beacon of hope and encouragement to her in times when all she wanted to do was quite. Her girlfriend, Mary Murphy, for the last two years smiled back at her with dark brown eyes and choppy dark brown hair. She smiled at her girlfriend and quickly looked back at her computer screen, a screen that reminded her of all her lost dreams as she looked at the statistics of how much ice cream was sold compared to the temperature and time of day.

"Abby," a harsh voice screamed as she placed her hands upon the well-worn keys of the key board. She spun quickly in her chair to see her boss signaling for her to come into his office.

She rolled her eyes as she turned back to her computer and quickly saved her work. She took a deep breath as she pushed herself from her desk and hurried toward the office where she knew she was to get another lecture on her shrewd, ungrateful tone in her recent stories.

"Mr. Norman," she asked as she slowly made her way into the office. She closed the door behind her as she watched Marty Norman glaring at a TV screen. She knew immediately that he was distressed by the large vein that throbbed upon his forehead. She smiled softly as the light reflected off of his balding head that had seemed to be edging further and further back with each passing month. She wondered to herself when he would go completely bald and if he would invest in a toupee.

"Have you seen the news today," he asked harshly, his eyes never leaving the small TV in front of him. She strained her neck to see what he was watching but he was notorious for blocking important things by his large frame. There was no use in trying to hear what was being said, he was notorious about having the television on mute. Her boss couldn't stand to listen to the opinions of others so every television had to be put on mute in the building.

"No sir," she replied, "I've been busy with my own report, my deadline is in-"

"Do you know a town called Trinity," he asked as he tore his eyes away from the television and looked into her green eyes.

Her brows creased at his question and then she nodded slowly as she answered, "Yes sir. Gail Emory was from there if I remember correctly."

"And also Senator Martin," he informed her.

"Senator Martin," she asked in slight confusion, "I didn't know that he was from there."

"Well he's not from there. His wife, Salome, was born and raised in that town," he cleared as he turned away from the television and to a large stack of printed papers that lay in a messy pile at the corner of his desk, the pages threatened to fall if someone were to bump against the desk.

"That's where they have lived since he retired," he added as he leaned back in his chair.

Abby watched as he handed her the large pile and explained, "Senator Martin is in a coma, there's no explanation for-"

"No explanation for it," she asked, "The man is like sixty-five years old. That's a great explanation."

"Sixty," he corrected her quickly, "And he is…was in perfect health. Now I wouldn't make this a big deal, but someone from Trinity, an informant, has sent me some rather confidential information on the secret goings on in that town."

"Sir I fail to see what any of this has to do with me," she admitted as she looked down at the photographs of several people that were in the stack of papers that he had handed her. A picture of Salome and Albert Martin together was on the top of the stack, the woman's jewelery sparkled as bright as the senator's smile did.

"Salome Martin is one of the most notorious lawyers in South Carolina," he informed her, "She's been seen dining with big fish and it's believed that she has ties to the mob. I want you to go down there and see if you can get in to the small town political system and-"

"You want me to do this," she asked in astonishment. Her eyes widened as she looked back down at the photos. She had seen Salome Martin on the news many times. She was a defense attorney and was notorious for getting scum bags off with only a slap on the wrist.

"You haven't been seen in the circle," he informed her, "I've kept you on the bullshit stories until a story just like this popped up. I've kept tabs on Trinity since what happened to Gail. Your contact is named Craig Healy. He's a photographer down there. He'll meet you and help you get settled."

She shuffled through the papers to see a picture of a scruffy dark haired, brown eyed man looking back at her in the baggiest of clothes. She shook her head at his uncaring demeanor.

"Get settled," Abby asked as she looked up at him, now fully hearing what he had said to her beforehand. She knew that her girlfriend would not like having to uproot from their home in the city to live in some backward shit hole town.

"Yes," he informed her, "We've set up for you to have a small apartment on the outer fringe of the city of Trinity."

"When do I go," she asked as a smile tugged at the corners of her lips, letting her own ambition overcome her worry about her lover's opinions.

"Tomorrow," he replied as he turned his back to her, "Forget your miniscule report. Charleston does not need to know the effect of heat on the local ice cream eateries. Go home and get packed."

She smiled as she nodded at his words. She thanked him as she backed toward the door, hurrying to leave and get started on this amazing opportunity that her editor had given her. She would not dawdle on this; she was already imagining her Pulitzer speech.

...

Abby hurried into her small apartment that she shared with Mary and their young white Chipoo dog, Carrie. A smile crossed her face as she saw her lover sitting on the couch surrounded by her student's papers, a red grading pen sat behind her ear as she read through their reports.

"Mary," she announced quickly and jumped upon the couch, being careful of the papers that were strewn across the cushions.

Mary looked up at her and smiled as she took in Abigail's beaming face. She gave her a large smile as she looked into her green eyes that sparkled with the happiness that was visible upon her face.

"What is it," she asked as Abby grabbed her hands and pulled them away from her grading and held them in her lap.

"I have some great news," Abby announced, "The boss gave me an assignment."

"What," she asked in slight shock, "He actually gave you an assignment worth investigating?"

"Yeah," Abby said, bobbing her head up and down in excitement, "We have to be moved in by tomorrow."

"Wait," she asked, now pulling her hands out of Abby's grasp, "What do you mean move?"

"We have to go to Trinity," Abby replied, "I get to rub elbows with a senator and his wife!"

Mary shook her head as she looked at her lover. She looked back at her papers in slight worry.

"I can't just leave," she informed her lover, "I have responsibilities-"

"Summer school," Abby interrupted with a shake of her head, "Forget those stupid kids. They'll just end up in a gang or something."

Abby patted her legs and smiled as Carrie jumped into her lap and licked at her neck in joy. She petted the small dog as Mary looked off into space as this news settled into her mind and she thought of the consequences of what this news could bring for their relationship and her own job.

"Mary," she whispered as she noticed the conflicted look upon her face, "School starts in less than a week. I'm sure that hick town will need a new teacher, and you are a great teacher! Any school would love to have you. I bet you'd be principle in less than a semester."

Mary smiled as she looked over at the ungraded papers that sat in front of her. She knew that this meant a lot to Abigail. She knew how hard her love had worked just to receive an assignment like this; it was a great opportunity for Abby, it would be very unfair of her to stop her from going after this story.

"Alright," she conceded as she gave her lover a large smile, "I'll call the school tomorrow and have Jenny Coggan take my classes."

Abby smiled at Mary and pulled her into a large hug as she screamed her thank yous to her.

"You have no idea how much this means to me," Abby admitted with a smile as she looked in Mary's dark brown eyes that seemed like a large vat of chocolate that had been hidden away in Willy Wonka's chocolate factory.

"Yes I do," Mary informed her with a coy smile as her fingers softly grazed against Abby's cheek bones.

Abigail smiled as she felt her heart thump at her lover's soft touch. It seemed as if Mary knew exactly what to do in order to make her heart skip a beat. She knew that she had found the one and she could care less at how her family had disowned her when she had told them about her newfound sexual preference. She let her lips touch lightly against Mary's lips as she lifted her legs up and placed them around her waist. Her hands moved slowly under Mary's long sleeved shirt and lingered above her bra as their kisses deepened.

Mary closed her eyes as her lover kneaded at her breasts. Her breath caught in her chest as Abigail's cold hands slipped under her bra and pinched lightly against her skin, Abby's kisses burned hot against the soft skin of her neck. She smiled as she let her hands wrap into her lover's short blonde hair.

"Our lives will finally be perfect," Abby whispered in Mary's ear and Mary believed her.

...

Trinity

Lucas Buck leaned against his desk with his deputy beside him as they looked up at the small television that sat upon a tan metal file cabinet in the corner of Lucas' office. An old video recording of Salome Martin dressed in a dark red loose fitting blouse that possessed military detailing upon the shoulders with a layered lapel and elastic waist, black tailored pants gave her a sleek silhouette as the video showed her as she made her way down the steps of a large court house. Her sleeves were buttoned up to show off her petite arms. A black tattoo of an eye upon her left wrist peered out to the audience as if warning them that she knew and saw everything. A young man walked beside her wearing an expensive dark suit with his black hair fixed that would make every girl swoon at the sight of him.

"Hard to imagine a girl from this town made it that big," Ben Healy stated as he turned away from the television set and looked over to the sheriff who had a small smile upon his lips as his eyes lingered on the dark haired woman that was being bombarded by reporters and cameramen.

"Sally May was always driven by her strong will and damned pride," Lucas announced as he pulled his eyes away from the television and looked to his deputy who wore the official brown officer uniform that he himself had worn many years ago.

Ben watched as Lucas looked down to button his tan suede vest that covered his emerald green button up long sleeved shirt. If two things could be depended on in this town, it was that Lucas would always arrive in a vest and that he stayed true to his word when making deals.

"You think she did it," Ben asked, refering to the rumor that Salome had something to do with her elderly husband being in a coma, as he looked back to the TV to see a young blonde anchor sitting at a desk.

"Sources close to Salome Martin have reported that she is very distraught over her husband's entrance into the hospital," the anchor woman announced as she looked into the camera in an attempt to make her viewers feel more connected with her, "The young lawyer told police that when she had arrived home on Sunday night from a meeting with a client that she had found him clutching at his heart on the floor of their kitchen complaining of chest pains. He was then rushed to the Fulton County Hospital where he slipped into a coma without any explanation as to why this occurred."

"Sadie," her co-anchor asked as he looked to her, "Do you think that this woman could have the capability to kill her husband? Do you think there is foul play going on?"

"Police initially investigated that and found no traces of any toxins in his system," she informed him, "But the family is asking that they be left alone in this hard and emotional time. Speaking of family, Danielle Martin has yet to be seen. It has yet to be confirmed if she is a suspect in this strange medical mystery."

"What motive does she have in killing Bert," Lucas asked as he turned the television off and made his way toward the door.

Ben followed in his steps and shrugged his shoulders at the question. In truth, he really did not know the woman very well. She was atleast five years younger than him. He would greet her when she had meetings with Lucas in regards to her lowlife clients when she was first starting her firm, but that was the only contact that he had ever really had with her. He had known that she was the hardest woman to flirt with, his drinking buddies had complained on several occassions that _'she was as frigid as an ice box in Iceland'_.

"I don't know," Ben conceded, "But Albert Martin is pretty rich and she's a beaaty...and that young Zachery is always with her. I think there may have been a plan there."

Lucas chuckled at his friend's words and replied, "That's why you are the deputy and I am the sheriff," he paused and then turned quickly, "How's that cousin of yours?"

Ben stopped quickly as he grabbed his hat from the small coat rack in the corner of the office. He quickly placed his hat upon his head and looked back to Lucas with a curious glint in his eyes. He knew that when Lucas brought up somebody that it was never really a good thing.

"Craig," he asked in aggrivation at his lazy good for nothin' cousin, "He's still a lazy bum. He's sleeping on his momma's couch now. He lost his job and his apartment in the same week. That boy can't keep a job for nothin'."

Lucas smiled at him as he opened the door and walked onto the newly swept sidewalk and smiled as an elderly woman passed by him.

"Mornin' Mrs. Nichols," he announced as the woman smiled at him and placed her frail hand upon his shoulder.

"Why Lucas Buck," she announced with a smile, "I haven't seen you in ages. When you gonna come on over to the house? You know there is always a big slice of apple pie waitin' for you."

"Well mam," he replied, using his southern charm to the best of his abilities as he looked into the old woman's green eyes, "I'm trying to cut back," he rubbed his stomach and smiled at her, "Got to lose a few pounds."

The old woman smiled as Ben walked out of the police station and joined them on the sidewalk. The woman looked the deputy over and then turned her attentions back to the sheriff.

"You know, my thoughts and prayers are with that young reporter friend of yours," the old woman informed him with a soft voice, "The church prays for her as well, I want you to know that. The Lord is with her."

Lucas smiled at her confession and nodded as he replied, "Well that's all we can do right now."

"Lucas," Ben announced with a small smile on his face as he turned his attentions away from Mrs. Nichols and onto Lucas.

Lucas smiled at the old woman and stated, "I promise that I will be by soon. Right now I have to help keep the streets of Trinity safe for all of us."

"And you do such a great job of it," she said as she patted his shoulder and bid her farewells.

Lucas looked over to his deputy and gave him a small mischievous smile.

"I have an itch Ben," he informed him as he looked down Main Street, "An itch that needs to be scratched."

Ben rolled his eyes at Lucas and walked over to the cruiser and unlocked the doors. He sat in the driver's seat and waited as Lucas made his way into the passenger's seat.

"Where to," Ben asked as he started the car and hurried to turn the A/C on to rid the old police cruiser of the heat that built up inside of it.

"Let's give Craig a little visit. Maybe he can scratch my itch."

* * *

**So there is Chapter 1! **

**Tell me what you think so far, please :)**


	2. The Spider & the Fly

**Chapter2: Spider & the Fly**

"_Those who are now enemies, well they used to be good friends"_

_-Kevin Costner & the Modern West_

Lucas watched as Ben knocked upon his aunt's door. Lucas looked down at the dirt that was collecting on the wooden porch; he couldn't help the smile that came over him as the summer wind blew small circles in the sand.

"Why Ben," the joyous voice of Mrs. Healy announced as she opened the door, "What brings you here?"

"We need to talk to Craig," Ben informed her in a stern voice.

Her mouth dropped slightly as she looked passed him to see the sheriff standing behind him.

"Did he do something wrong," she asked.

Lucas smiled at the pudgy woman and replied, "No mam, just want to have a little talk with him is all."

She smiled at Lucas and opened the door as she screamed, "Craig! Get down here!"

Ben and Lucas watched as Craig walked out of the kitchen and stopped immediately as he took in the appearance of Sheriff Lucas Buck and his older cousin. An uncomfortable smile came upon his face as he hurried toward the couch.

"The sheriff wants to talk to you," Mrs. Healy informed him.

"Look I went and saw my probation officer the other-"

"This has nothing to do with your probation officer," Lucas announced as he walked into the house with Ben following behind him, "But I do want you to know that I appreciate the hard volunteer work that you've been puttin' in. The park looks…simply beautiful."

Lucas smiled and turned to the young man's mother and asked, "Mrs. Healy, is that pie I smell?"

He watched as a large smile came over her face as she nodded, "Apple."

"Oh, my absolute favorite," he replied as he rubbed his stomach. Ben rolled his eyes as he sat down on the old black and brown couch. Craig followed his cousin's movements and sat down on the small leather lazy chair that had belonged to his father.

"I'll get you some then Sheriff," she announced with a smile as she turned on her heels and hurried into the kitchen.

Lucas took a deep breath and smiled at Craig. He made his way to the couch and sat down upon it at the end where he was close to Craig. Lucas watched as the young man pulled out his camera and examined it with a passion that burned in his eyes that Gail had once held in hers.

"I got a new job," Craig announced with a proud smile as he looked at Ben, "It's a great gig. I'll be making good money."

Ben chuckled at his cousin's words, words that he had heard many, many times before, and asked, "How long's this one gonna last?"

Lucas watched as Craig rolled his eyes and allowed his proud smile to fade along with his enthusiasm. The boy's mother walked in with a large white ceramic plate with a warm slice of freshly made apple pie upon. He smiled as she handed him the plate along with the fine silver fork.

"Thank you," he announced with a smile as he cut into the slice of warm pie.

"Oh," he announced as he let the piece linger on his tongue to get the full flavor of the apple and the cinnamon, "This is delicious."

"Why thank you," she said with an accomplished smile and then looked to Ben and asked, "Ben, I would have brought you a slice, but you need to lose some weight. How are you gonna get a girl if you keep on gaining weight?"

"Betty," Ben sighed at his aunt, "We really need to talk to Craig…alone."

She glared at Ben and then smiled as she looked back at Lucas who was cutting another bite from the slice of pie that she had cooked.

"Fine," she announced, "But make it quick. He needs to clean out the dog pen."

"Yes mam," Ben answered as he watched her turn on her heel once again and retire to the kitchen.

Lucas sat the plate upon the antique mahogany coffee table that sat in front of the couch and pulled himself off of the couch.

"So what exactly are you doing," he asked as he placed his hands upon the cracked leather of Craig's chair. He lingered above the boy like an angered mentor. He could feel the fear radiating from Craig's body as he pulled the old camera out of his hands and examined the camera.

Craig watched as the sheriff turned his camera this way and that way, examining it in a way that reminded him of a child that had stumbled upon a gun for the first time in their life.

"I'm ugh…I'm just a photographer," Craig answered in a shaky voice.

Lucas nodded and handed the camera back to him. Craig grabbed the camera from him and placed it back around his neck. He took a deep breath as the anxiety escaped him. He had worried that the sheriff would break his camera and the start of his career would be over with. He turned and watched as Lucas fumbled inside his vest, trying to find something inside of his hidden pocket.

"Care to explain these Craig," Lucas asked and dropped a handful of photographs on to the boy's lap.

Craig shivered in slight fear and confusion as he looked at the photographs, the same ones that he had printed just a few days before. Photos of Salome and Lucas arguing looked up at him, along with photos of the comatose senator laying in his hospital bed hooked up to machines, and many pictures of Salome alone in her house.

"How'd you get these Craig," Lucas asked, his voice hard as he looked down at the young man looking through his photographs, "You've got talent, I'll admit. You shouldn't prostitute it out for the highest bidder, that's like selling your soul to the devil, son."

"Where'd you find these," Craig asked as he looked up to the sheriff with anger in his eyes, "How'd you get them?"

"Doesn't matter," Lucas said nonchalantly with a shrug of his shoulders, "You were told that the press was not allowed into the hospital. So who let you in? Was it Billy Boy?"

"No," he answered quickly as he glared at the sheriff, "I just went in."

"Hmm," Lucas said in slight agitation, "Also, trespassin' is illegal, Craig. It's still illegal, isn't it Ben?"

Craig looked over to his cousin, a look of pleading in his eyes. Ben shook his head in aggravation at his cousin.

"Sure is Lucas," he answered in a stern parental tone.

"So who are you working for," Lucas asked as he leaned over him, casting a long shadow over the boy.

Craig filled with anger as he looked up at the sheriff, "I ain't got to tell you a thing. It's a free country."

Lucas grinned at the boy's answer and patted the leather of the chair and walked toward the door. Ben followed loyally behind him, giving his young cousin unamused glances.

"For now," Lucas said in an informative and amused manner as he glared at the young man with a glint of wicked joy in his eyes, "But you'll be wishin' this day went differently in a few weeks."

Ben shook his head at his cousin as he watched the fear form in Craig's eyes. He turned his attentions back on Lucas who had walked out of the house and was heading back toward the police cruiser.

"What's his deal with Salome Martin," Craig asked.

"Lucas," Ben placed his hands upon his hips and looked down at the floor as he thought of the things he had seen Lucas do in the past, "has his own reasons for the things he does," he looked back to his cousin, "And you just got on his bad side with that little attitude of yours. I can't help you out of this mess that you are creating for yourself, Craig."

Craig watched as his older cousin shook his head in slight disgrace and embarrassment and added as he opened the door, "You take care of your momma."

Ben walked out of his aunt's house, letting the door slam behind him. He left his cousin alone in his mother's house, alone in a dark fear that worked as an undertow that would suck him under the dark waters that he knew would eventually kill him.

...

Mary Murphy walked into the empty room that would soon be hers once school started for the year. She could smell the pine clean smell that lingered in the air. She rolled the sleeves of her dark yellow, almost tan, blouse up to push the desks where she wanted them to be for the beginning of the school year. She stopped quickly as scars from her past looked back at her. Large scarred over burn marks stared and needle marks scaled up her arms. Tears formed in her eyes as she remembered all the horrible things that she had done.

She had been clean for the last two years and she had to place all the praise on Abby. If it wasn't for Abby coming into her life she wouldn't have had the courage to quit cold turkey and fight the craving. She still had the cravings for that high, but she fought it with every ounce of strength that she could against it.

"Oh hey," she heard a deep, sensual voice announce happily from behind her, "You must be the new teacher everyone was tellin' me about."

Mary hurried to pull her sleeves down to hide her past and turned around with a large smile to greet the woman behind her. She smiled as she looked the woman over who stood in the door way dressed in white sleeveless shirt belted at the waist with a small leopard print belt clasped snugly around her and a knee length brown striped skirt with a pair of white and brown heels that completed the look. She had been told that small town teachers dressed up to teach their students rather than wearing whatever they felt comfortable in.

"Yes," she announced as she held her hand out and shook the woman's hand, "Mary Murphy. And you are?"

"Selena Coombs," the woman answered.

Mary took in the woman's sun kissed skin and her dark eyes that made her feel as if she should tread in shallow waters with this woman.

"Hi," Mary announced as she pulled her hand out of the woman's grasp, "Yeah. I just moved here. They said that I was your switch teacher?"

"Yes," Selena answered, "They split the courses up this year. I teach English and History. Are you worried at all?"

"No," she responded with a soft smile upon her face, "I think I can handle small town kids."

She watched as Selena smiled and reached her hand out to touch her long sleeves and asked, "How can you stand it? It's so hot. What are you hiding," Selena smiled as she looked at the woman's long sleeves, "Track marks? Burns?"

Mary looked at the woman in shock at the words that had just left Selena's mouth. She shook her head and replied, "No. I just like long sleeves. It's my style."

Selena sighed and replied in her familiar smoky voice, "Well to each their own I guess," a smile came over her face as she looked at the ring on the woman's finger, "You got a boyfriend?"

Mary looked down at her ring and smiled. She and Abby had matching silver rings with the word LOVE engraved upon it to symbolize their lasting love in their relationship.

"No," Mary answered, "Do you?"

Selena sighed sadly and replied, "I had a boyfriend. That hit the fan real fast when he knocked someone else up. I was supposed to have his baby."

"I'm sorry," Mary replied, trying to sound understanding and considerate of the woman that would be her neighbor in this small school.

"It's hard to be teaching a student whose dad you were in love with," Selena said sadly as she turned away from Mary to keep the tears from escaping her.

"I'm sorry," Mary whispered once again as Selena forced herself to turn back around to face her new neighbor with a smile upon her face.

"Well, there are plenty of other needy men in this town though. There is the great bar," she revealed with a large smile upon her face, excitement came over her as she looked at the new teacher, "Hey, I know! Maybe I can introduce you to a few really good guys."

Mary smiled and shook her head and waved her hand at the excited woman and replied, "No. No. Not necessary."

"What? Why not," Selena asked in confusion as she looked at the young woman, "Having a man is everything in this town."

"I uhm…," she faltered, wondering for a moment if she should admit her sexuality to anyone in this town, "I have a girlfriend."

She watched as Selena looked stunned at her revelation. Selena shrugged her shoulders and smiled awkwardly.

"Oh," Selena replied, "You're one of those."

"Yeah."

"You may want to keep that a secret," Selena whispered as she placed her hand upon the woman's shoulder, "Not everyone in this town is as understanding as I am," Selena watched as Mary nodded, "So what's her name?"

"Abigail," Mary replied honestly with a large happy smile upon her face, "She's an investigative reporter."

"How nice," Selena replied with a smile that held a wicked intent that went unnoticed by Mary, "Our own little reporter is laying in a hospital bed in a coma," she watched an uncomfortable smile come upon the young woman's face, "So what brings you here to our lil town of horrors? Is it our little population of birds? The river's growing crawdad population?"

"No," Mary answered without thinking of the consequences that this conversation could have, "Abby's work. She's investigating the senator and his wife, along with the local sheriff."

Selena smiled brightly at the woman as she walked back toward the door to go back to her own class room and replied, "Well I hope she exposes every one of them for what they really are."

Mary watched as the tall sultry voiced woman walked out of her classroom, leaving her alone to wonder if she should have admitted that information.

...

"_On the gathering storm comes a tall handsome man in a dusty coat with a red right hand," _the car radio blasted as Abby made her way down Trinity's Main Street. She looked at every building looking for the one that she needed.

Her hands patted the steering wheel as she passed by a small diner and a pool hall and whispered to herself, "Where is this place at?"

In her rear view mirror, she watched as a black car came behind her with its lights flashing signaling for her to pull over. She cursed under her breath and slapped her palm on the steering wheel as she hurried to pull over on the side of the road. She put the car in park and hurriedly leaned over to dig into her glove compartment in search of her insurance and her driver's license as the officer made his way to her car.

"Afternoon mam," she heard a very polite Southern man announce.

She turned quickly as she looked out her lowered window to see a star gleaming in the sunlight. She smiled as she looked at his smiling face.

"Was I speeding officer," she asked with a knowing smile upon her face.

"Sheriff," he corrected, Sheriff Lucas Buck," he smiled as he looked into her green eyes, "That's Buck with a B."

"So I get the great pleasure of being pulled over and ticketed by the sheriff," Abby said jokingly.

Lucas waved his hand as she tried to hand over her identification.

"So you're new here," he asked as he stood in front of her window.

Abby smiled as she looked at him, standing in front of her with all the charisma that only a well-bred Southern gentleman could possess.

"Yeah, I just moved here," she informed him with a smile as she looked up at him, "Name's Abby White."

"I knew I'd never seen this car in town before," he stated as he looked at the red '98 Chevy Lumina taking in the streak on the side of it.

"I'm kind of lost," she informed him as she looked down the street, "I'm trying to find the Martin and Wallace law firm. I think I may have passed it."

Lucas smiled and pointed down the street.

"Zachery is a good lawyer," Lucas said, "I play pool with his father, hell of a player. And Salome is hell in a pair of high heels, ain't nothin' gonna stop her from gettin' what she wants. Take this road then take a left on Mayberry Avenue. You can't miss it. It's the biggest building on that street. And maybe next time slow it down."

She smiled at him and replied, "Thank you, Sheriff Buck with a B. And I promise that I will slow it down from now on."

She gave him a thankful smile and waited for him to back away from her car as she put it in drive and slowly pulled away from him and drove down the small country road.

Lucas smiled a wicked smile as he watched the car turn down Mayberry Avenue. He couldn't help the chuckle that escaped him at the amusement that he had received from little Abigail White.

"Sally May, Sally May," he sang as he stood on the side of the street, "Into your cave I send the lost sheep, Sally May."

...

Abby looked up to the large building that was more of house than a place of business. She walked up to the well swept porch as she tugged on her purple and white shirt. She placed her large brown bag to her side with the recording device hidden inside.

A large sign hung above the door that read "MARTIN & WALLACE" in cursive. She took a deep breath to calm her shaking nerves as she opened the door and entered the law firm. She opened the door to see a set of stairs that led to the second floor, an empty desk and two large couches and expensive name brand chairs that made up the waiting room, and two doors, one closed and the other open.

She watched as a man walked out of his office and looked at her with slight confusion that crossed his face but was quickly replaced with a look that welcomed her into the room. She looked him over and smiled as his slicked back black hair framed his handsome face. His dark grey suit made his eyes pop as she looked at his pleasant face. She smiled at the thought of how much her family would have loved if she would have brought home a man like this.

"Can I help you, miss," the man asked as he walked toward her.

"Uhm," she announced as she looked around the room trying to get her lies together, "I had an appointment with Mrs. Martin today."

The man's brow furrowed and shrugged his shoulders, "I'm sorry, but Mrs. Martin isn't taking any clients right now what with her husband being in the hospital. I thought Maria had called all of her clients and had told them all the situation."

"Well I asked Maria if I could just come in and talk to Mrs. Martin about my case and she told me to come in today," Abby explained, "My lawyer that I have now isn't doing such a good job."

"Well I can help you," he replied as he walked toward his door, "I'm Zachery Wallace, attorney at law. I am taking Sally May's clients right now."

"No," she announced quickly, with fear in her voice, "It's…it's kind of private. I need a female lawyer, you know, someone that I can feel comfortable with."

Zachery eyed her over curiously for a moment and then nodded. He held his index finger up in a silent signal that he would be right back and that she should hold her horses for a moment.

She watched as he walked over to the closed door and tapped lightly on it. She knew that the office belonged to Salome Martin and her heart fluttered as he opened to door and leaned his head inside. She could hear everything that was being said between the two. She turned around to act if she was not listening.

"You had an appointment today," Zachery asked as he looked over the dark haired woman. He watched as she wiped away the tears that had fallen from the new program that she had watched that morning. He had watched as her cheeks reddened as men and women called her a gold digging whore and a murderess.

"Are you kidding me," she asked in anger as she looked up at him, "I told Maria to cancel all my appointments. When you see that god damned Mexican, you tell her she is fired."

Zachery smiled at Salome's anger toward the secretary, "What do you want me to do about her?"

"Is she a nosy reporter," she asked.

"No I don't think so."

"You can send her in," she demanded as she threw her rumpled up tissue in the trash.

Zachery turned and smiled as the woman turned with a hopeful smile upon her face. He noticed how tightly she was clutching on to her brown bag and smiled as she walked by him into Salome's office.

Abby walked in with her head low and eyes cast to the floor. She heard the sound of the lawyer's chair squeak and she forced herself to look at the famous woman. She took in the woman's gaze first; she watched as Salome Martin stared sadly at a picture of her with her arms wrapped around Albert Martin in a large garden of white flowers. She then took in the woman's appearance and then suddenly felt very underdressed. The lawyer wore deep blue blouse that was cinched at the waist with a black Valentino pencil knee length skirt. It was clear that Salome Martin enjoyed her shopping for the best clothes and cared about her appearance as her long dark hair was curled perfectly around her face, stopping above her chest.

"What's your name sweetheart," Salome announced, successfully pulling Abigail out of her thoughts.

"Abby White," she answered honestly as she looked the powerful woman in her eyes. She felt as if she should walk on eggshells around this woman, there seemed to be something dangerous about the way that she was being looked at. The woman's gaze reminded her of those of an apex predator stalking its prey freely in the environment.

"What can I help you with," Salome asked with a smile.

"Well, Salami," Abby started, mispronouncing her name wrong on purpose.

"It's Salome," she corrected in annoyance, "Do I look like meat to you? I don't come with a slice of cheese on the side."

Abby jumped at the sound of the door slamming behind her. She looked back to the lawyer to see her bemused smile. She willed the fear out of her and cleared her throat.

"My lawyer wants me to settle on my case in Charleston," she lied as she made her way to the chairs in front of the desk, "My boss raped me. I thought that a big city lawyer would help me better than a small town lawyer…but I was wrong."

Salome gazed into the woman's green eyes as a knowing smile came upon her face.

"Hmmm," Salome replied with a small crooked smile, "And Sheriff Buck has this on file?"

Fear bubbled inside Abby's stomach as she looked at the dark haired woman, "Uhm, no. I never filed it with him. I talked with him this morning though."

"What do you think of him," Salome asked.

"He's kind of cocky."

Salome burst out in a fit of giggles at her confession.

"That's our sheriff alright," Salome informed her, "Buck with a B," she rolled her eyes, "Lucas Buck is nothin' but a nasty, misogynistic toad that rambles on and on about the Old World powers. The only power he has over us is the power we give him."

"Well I don't know anything about that," Abby replied honestly, "Can you help me?"

Salome chuckled and reached for the picture frame and handed it to her with a proud smile. Abby took it quickly and looked at the picture. She smiled as she looked at the smiling couple. Albert Martin had a happy smile that was filled with love as he looked at Salome who had her arms wrapped around his neck whispering something into his ear.

"Isn't he handsome," Salome asked, breaking Abby's gaze away from the photo and bringing her back into the office room.

"I've seen him on the news," she admitted, "He's in the hospital. Is he doing any better?"

She watched as Salome leaned back in her chair and examined her. Her eyes glared into hers and a cold otherworldly feeling came over her. She felt the want to flee from this place but she willed herself to stay seated and face this story head one.

"Still in the hospital, they don't know what caused him to slip into the coma," Salome revealed as an angry smile came upon her face as her eyes burned as she looked at the woman, "Investigative Reporter White."

Abby felt as if the world had slipped away from her as all color escaped the thin flesh of her face. She looked at the lawyer with panic filling her.

"Mighty brave of you to come here and lie to my face, Ms. White," she added, "Did you think that if you said that you were raped that I'd feel sorry for you and let my guard down? I'm not stupid," she wagged her finger disapprovingly at the reporter and clicked her tongue at the top of the roof of her mouth, "Not nice, not nice at all."

"How," she fumbled to form a cognitive sentence as Salome's blue eyes locked onto her green ones, "How did you know?"

"This is Trinity, Ms. White," Salome revealed, "I know every goings on in this town. Nothing gets passed me."

Abby shook her head and replied in a shaky voice, "I'm sorry, Mrs. Martin. I can-"

"Don't be sorry," she interrupted quickly, "In fact, I'll give you a few tips, little suggestions if you will. May I?"

Abby nodded her head as she looked down at Salome's perfectly manicured nails. She took in the golden wedding ring that sat on her finger perfectly, the diamonds reflecting from the light around it. She shivered as a golden ring in the shape of a snake encircled her ring finger on her right hand; red rubies stared back at her as if the snake's eyes in Eden were glaring back at her.

"Never look a man -or woman- in the eyes," Salome informed her as she pointed at her own blue eyes, "You may find that they aren't so honest. You may not like what you see looking back at you."

"I don't understand," she asked in confusion as she clutched onto her brown bag.

"You will soon enough."

A shiver moved down Abby's smile at the woman's tone. She watched as Salome looked over to the door and smiled before her eyes came back to her.

"I know that your lil girlfriend is working for the school," Salome said with a dark intent in her voice, "And I know that Craig Healy has been taking pictures of me in my house. He thinks that he will make it big at proving that this idiotic rumor about me trying to kill my husband is true."

"Did you," Abby heard herself ask.

Salome smiled at the woman's bold question and replied, "Now why would I want to do that?"

"The money," Abby answered in a matter of fact tone.

"Money is a fat man in the suburbs," Salome informed her as she pushed her chair out and crossed them.

Abby was about to retort but she stopped short as she took in a tattoo of an eye upon Salome's wrist. Her heart stopped at the strange tattoo and her blood ran cold; something about the eye unnerved her.

"Another little bit of advice," Salome added, "Get out of Trinity. There's nothing here for you. There's only two roads in this world, Ms. White, and if you're listening to anyone but me, well," she chuckled, "you're on the wrong one."

"Is that a threat," Abby asked as she watched Salome stand from her chair and place the picture frame back in its place.

Salome smiled at her and replied with a smile and a southern accent that Vivien Leigh would be jealous of, "Welcome to Trinity, Ms. White."

"It's time for you to leave, Ms. White," the dark voice of Zachery announced from behind him at the door.

Abby turned to see that the door was now open and Zachery stood inside of the office. She had never heard the door open or his footsteps. She stood quickly and walked toward the door to leave.

"Fly, fly, little birdie," Salome sang as she watched the young reporter hurrying out of the building. She looked to Zachery and smiled as she handed him a wad of cash, "Take care of Selena for me, will you Zachery? I have to get back to the hospital."

"Yes mam," he answered as he pulled the cash out of her hand.

"It's good to have friends in low places sometimes," she replied with a smile.

"The sheriff called while you were busy," he informed her, "He's on line 1."

"Thanks Zachery," she smiled as he walked out of her office, closing the door behind him.

Salome looked at her telephone and picked it up off the line.

"Sally May," she heard Lucas Buck say on the other end of the line, "Sally May."

She placed the phone back on the line and smiled as she collected her purse and made her way out of her office to visit the hospital.

* * *

**And here's chapter 2! :)**

**I'd love feedback :)**


	3. Home Securities

**Chapter 3: Home Securities**

"_All of the ghouls come out to play and every demon wants his pound of flesh" –Florence & the Machine_

* * *

Craig hurried to the back of the small apartment. He scurried up the fire escape, peeking back and forth in an attempt to see if anyone was watching him. He had called Abigail White after the sheriff and his cousin had arrived to have a little talk with him.

It was dangerous for him to be doing this. The sheriff wasn't someone to be played with and from what he had heard about Salome Martin, neither was she.

He knocked on to the glass window and let his eyes dart around the surroundings as he heard the window open.

"Why didn't you come to the door," Abby asked as she watched him climb into the window and enter her house. She watched as he hurriedly closed the window and drew the cigarette smoke stained blinds quickly.

"Did you tell anyone about this," he asked as he turned back to her and hurried away from the window.

"No," she said as she looked at him, "Was I supposed to?"

No," he said with urgent worry, "No one needs to know about this. This can be very dangerous for all of us. Where is your girlfriend?"

Abby looked at him with confusion in her eyes at his fear and worry that he allowed to paste upon his face.

"Are you okay," she asked as she looked toward the window.

"What," he asked and then rubbed his dark hair, "Yeah. I'm fine. It's just the sheriff came to visit with me today."

"And," she asked.

"Lucas Buck knows something is up," he said in a matter of fact tone as he walked toward her couch, "We have to keep these meetings a secret."

"Salome knows who I am," she said as she watched him pull large files out of his brown and blue Jansport® backpack. "She told me to leave."

"Well," he said as he looked back up at her, "You aren't going to are you?"

"No," she grabbed a large file from off the couch cushion and looked down to see a large file with the Lucas Buck's name scribbled in red ink pen upon it in large letters, "What's this?"

"That's every strange going on that Lucas was involved in," he replied, "Included is Merlyn Temple, Gage Temple and his wife, Gail Emory's coma, and a slew of other unsolved or questionable cases."

"So this Lucas Buck," she said as she flipped through the pages, "He is just the sheriff. What kind of power could he have?"

Craig stopped what he was doing and looked at her with sharp eyes, he shook his head at her as fear filled his eyes.

"Sheriff Lucas Buck owns this town," Craig informed her, "He's not going to let anything destroy that little fact."

"Then why doesn't someone stand up against him."

"There have been."

"Then where are they," she asked with a driven passion in her tone, "I want to talk with them."

"They're in the ground," he answered in a matter of fact tone, "Like I said, he won't let anything destroy his power. That's why I don't understand this connection between him and Salome Martin."

"What do you mean?"

"Salome is running for mayor," he said as he handed her a much smaller file, "And she undermines the sheriff at each opportunity that she gets…and she is still alive. Why? I don't know."

Craig pointed to the small file and said, "This is one Salome. There is really no official documents on her. It's just some of her larger cases."

She flipped through the pages of newspaper clippings of pictures of Salome and her various big league scumbags. Her eyes stopped at one picture and her eyes grew large in surprise.

"Zachery Wallace," she said and showed the newspaper clipping to Craig, "I met him today."

"Oh yeah," Craig said with disdain in his voice and rolled his eyes, "He was believed to have killed his old girlfriend, but Salome swayed the jury as if by some strange magic. The evidence was clearly against him but in twenty minutes they found him not guilty."

Abby smiled as she looked at the handsome man. Craig had written out little details of the man on the side of Zachery's picture.

"Zachery Wallace, age 30, son of Emmitt Wallace, lawyer," Abby read aloud, "Soliciting sex from a prostitute in New York and New Jersey, vandalism at 18. Possibly having an affair with Salome Martin," she looked over to Craig with a smile on her face, "I got that feeling too!"

"He's a dick," Craig informed her with a roll of his eyes. He had competed for a girl in the bar with Zachery and the rich, sharp dressed lawyer won out which had caused some animosity in Craig toward the young lawyer.

Abby picked up a picture of the senator and smiled as she took in his salt and pepper hair and large smile. Somehow Craig had gotten a picture of him holding hands with his wife in what had to be their backyard. She could see the side of a jack-o-lantern in the background signaling to her that it was mid fall when the picture had been taken.

"Senator Albert Martin, age 60," she read the small description on the side, "Senator for the United States for three terms. Married his current wife in 1996. Has one child from another marriage. People say he is an all-around good hearted man."

"I just think he is an unlucky pawn," Craig confessed.

"So do you think that she is actually involved with his hospitalization? I mean they look happy together in these pictures."

"Of course she has something to do with it," he said in disbelief at her question, "Can you imagine how much he is worth? Did you see the amount of wealth that his wife wears? I bet her shoes cost over $800 and she wears different shoes every day!"

She smiled as she recalled the golden jewelry that the woman had worn when she had seen it.

"You forgot about her tattoo," she informed him, "On her wrist."

"I didn't forget about that," he said as he handed her a crumpled printout from a website detailing the eye.

"_A universal symbol representing spiritual sight, inner vision, higher knowledge, insight into occult mysteries. Some say it alludes that the Devil himself is watching you through these eyes that ill-informed wearers of the eye wear in order to plan on destroying Earth with his New World Order. Then there are others that say that the eye is belonging to God as he is watching us and judging us."_

"Doesn't really give you a clear description," Abby said as she sat the page to the side and grabbed read aloud another page, "Salome Martin, age 32, no children, lawyer. She had a stint in Washington where it is believed that she first met her husband. Unknown connection to the sheriff in Trinity based on photographs of them together."

"And then there is Sheriff Buck," Craig answered, "All you need to know about him is stay on his good side or you are fucked."

"Sheriff Lucas Buck," she said with a smile on her face as she smiled at his warning, "Sheriff of Trinity. Mixed opinions on him. Buck is the father of one Caleb Temple and has custody of the child while the boy's cousin Gail Emory is in coma in Fulton County Hospital."

"Wait," Abby asked as she looked to Craig, "Gail knew the sheriff."

"Knew him," Craig said with a condescending tone in his voice, "She was carrying his child until she mysteriously fell down the stairs and lost the baby."

Craig stood from the couch and placed his backpack back upon his back. Abby watched as he hurried back toward the window and peeked out of the blinds to see if anyone was sitting outside waiting to ambush him.

"You have a lot of homework to look at," Craig said as he pulled the blinds up and opened the window once again, "I have to be going in case Ben shows up asking more questions. Oh you may also want to research the town. I didn't have time to get to that. I got a damned ticket on my car for not puttin' money in the meter."

"Gotcha."

"Oh and Abby," he added as he crawled out of the window, "Be careful. If the ground don't feel right, it's probably quick sand."

She looked at him with a fearful curiosity as she watched him hurry down the fire escape and into the surrounding trees where she knew his car was hidden. His fear seemed misplaced to her. She did not understand why Craig Healy would be afraid of the sheriff when his own flesh and blood was the sheriff's deputy.

...

Salome let her purse slide from her shoulder onto her elbow as she struggled to unlock the door to her and her husband's large house, which could almost be considered an official Confederate mansion, if it had only been built two years earlier.

The keys jingled as she pushed the door opened and walked into her dark house. She cursed under her breath at the thought of all the help quitting because of the worry of "bad hoodoo" inside the house that caused Albert's strange medical condition.

She turned to grab her keys out of the door but a sudden pain wrapped around her throat and threw her back into the door, her purse hit the tiled floor with a loud bang. She felt the door move with the force of the shove as she wrapped her hands around the intruder's large hands that were wrapped tightly around her throat. She stood on her tiptoes in an attempt to catch her breath.

Salome opened her eyes to see Lucas glaring into her eyes. Her fingernails bit at his skin as anger filled her.

"I can't breathe," she begged as she looked into his eyes as her own filled with tears of pain.

"You should really invest in a home security system," he said as he let go of her throat. He watched as her hands went to her throat as she tried to catch her breath by letting small coughs escape her.

She stood tall against the wall and looked at him with anger blazing in her blue eyes, "Then what good is it to have a town sheriff then?"

"Why didn't you answer my calls Sally May," he asked in a slightly frustrated tone.

"Why Sheriff Buck," she said, feigning a Southern accent that a Yankee would use when trying to attempt an accent.

He glared at her as she continued in her normal slightly accented voice, "My husband is in the hospital-"

"And they want to string you up like a catfish for attempted murder. I'd think you'd want the sheriff in your corner."

She bit her lip in anger and said, "I love my husband. You know that-"

"Know what exactly," he asked as he placed his hands upon his waist and looked down at the younger woman with a condescending yet inquisitive glint in his eyes, "I know that Zacky boy spends an awful amount of time on your skirt tail," he smiled as he watched a wicked smirk come upon her face, "And I also know that you and I have a little problem."

"We," she asked with a lifted brow and the same condescending smirk upon her face that he had held earlier. She chuckled at him.

"That little reporter, Abigail White."

She pushed around him and said in a nonchalant way, "I can take care of her."

"Can you," Lucas asked.

"I can do anything. You should know that by now."

"No you can't," he said as he turned to face her, "You don't know how to keep your mouth shut, Sally May."

"I kept my mouth shut about you, didn't I?"

He shook his head and said, "I can't protect you on this. I'll have to-"

"What do you really want Lucas," she demanded as she placeed her arms across her chest.

"I want you to keep your mouth shut," he said sternly, "And don't trust anyone but yourself and me. Do you understand me Salome?"

"You? Why would I even consider that?"

"Well, you are going to have to if you like it or not," he said in a matter of fact tone. "So do you understand Salome?"

She glared at him for what seemed ages and then broke eye contact with him and allowed her gaze to look down at her fallen purse.

"Do you understand what I'm telling you," he asked once again.

"Yes," she said in hostility.

Lucas smiled at her answer and said with a crooked Southern boy grin upon his face, "I'd like to propose a deal, Sally May."

She chuckled at his words and shook her head as she walked back toward him. Lucas watched as she opened the door and glared at him.

"You're going to need me," he informed her.

"Well," she said as she shrugged her shoulders and looked him dead in the eyes, "That won't be happening, Sheriff Buck. Now kindly, get the hell out of my house."

"Sally May," he replied with a smile as he grabbed the door and stood in the door frame, "You act as if you have free will because of who you are married to, but you know that you don't really hold anything that I'm interested in. You act as if your life in Trinity or anywhere else in this world is your choice."

He watched as her eyes widened at his words. He watched as tears filled her eyes but she blinked them back quickly. He smiled at the strength that the young woman displayed.

"You've reminded me plenty," she whispered with a sad frown as he let go of the door and stepped back, allowing her to shut the door.

"I'll be out here waitin' for you to take you to the hospital," he informed her, stopping her from shutting the door in his face.

She looked at him in curiosity.

"I can't let the infamous Salome Martin go out alone what with all the damned press runnin' around," he said with a smirk, "And you know that in Trinity that we take care of our own."

* * *

**There's chapter 3. It's short, but it is actually cut into two chapters. We get a flashback in the next story! :)**

**If you read, then review! I survive off of them.**


	4. Painful Memories

**A/N: Italics are flashbacks. This chapter is almost entirely made of flashbacks. Not much is going on though.**

**Chapter 4: Painful Memories**

"_Memories kill. They say they won't, but they always will."-Kevin Costner & the Modern West_

_ Salome wiped the hot, streaming tears away from her cheeks as she looked up to her husband. She could see the sadness that reflected in his eyes at her confession. She watched as he gave her a soft smile and placed his hands on her hips. She pulled away and shook her head in shame; she didn't want to look into his eyes._

"_If you want to leave me, I'll understand," she said in heartbreak as she looked at her husband who had just came in from dinner with an old comrade, "I won't judge you."_

"_What," he said in astonishment; his hands moved to her shoulders and rubbed them in a comforting manner, "I'd never leave you. I love you, Sally."_

_Her lip quivered as she looked up at him. He was so caring and understanding that she wished to be as strong as him. She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tighter than she had ever hugged him before. _

"_I love you too," she whispered into his ear as her fingers twisted through his slightly greying hair. _

_Albert smiled and pulled away from her. She looked up into his eyes as he wiped the lost tears away from her cheek. He leaned in and placed a soft, reassuring kiss upon her lips to remind her of how much that he loved her._

"_I love you," he said in a soft voice as he placed another kiss upon her wet cheeks and trailed them back to her lips and kissed her lovingly._

_Salome let her shame escape her at the loving caresses that her husband was giving her. Her breath caught when his hands moved across her stomach._

"_We could adopt a child," he said to her as he let his other hand play with her curled dark hair. She grabbed his hand and placed a kiss upon his slightly wrinkling hands._

"_Or we could spit at God's plans and make our own," she whispered as she wrapped her arms around his neck and passionately kissed him. She felt a slight moan escape her as his hands wrapped around her tightly as they spun toward their bedroom. They didn't let an inch of their bodies escape each other's touch as they danced down the hall._

Salome looked over her comatose husband and she shook her head. Her heart beat with sadness and regret as she looked at his slightly wrinkled face that was riddled with stubble. She smiled as she recalled their many memories together; their most recent one of making love the day before he had slipped into a coma.

"Hey Albert," she whispered with a smile as she watched his chest move up and down, "The sheriff brought me. He's pretending to be the good guy in all of this," she rolled her eyes at her own statement, "Like always I suppose."

She looked down to the tiled floor and closed her eyes as another memory came across her mind. She smiled as she recalled every detail in her mind.

"Do you remember our wedding day?"

She smiled as she looked back at Albert and shook her head, "I remember it like it was yesterday. You were so handsome, even more handsome than you are now."

_Zachery watched as the bride placed lipstick upon her pink lips in the mirror. Salome could see him standing in the corner of her small room inside the church. He was wearing a dark grey suit like he had worn countless other times and his dark hair was parted in the middle and slicked back in only a way that he could pull off._

"_Do you know what demons do, Zachery," she asked as she placed her lipstick container into her black hand bag. _

_He smiled as he walked toward her and shook his head. He looked down on her beautiful cream wedding dress. He took in the built up bust that accentuated her bust, the cinched waist that was of her style to sculpt her fine curves that he had always noticed from the first day that he had met her. He watched as her petite hands played at the layers of chiffon in nervousness._

"_No," he said and smiled at her as she placed a pearled headband into her curly updo, "What do they do?"_

_Salome smirked at him as she turned to him and placed her hand upon his cheek, "They hide from the light. The trick is to make them come out of the light."_

_He looked at her in slight confusion, not fully understanding her words._

"_I don't think I understand what you mean," he said as she walked away from him._

_She smiled at him and shrugged her shoulders, "That's our job, Zack. We have to depend on the demon hunters to bring them into the light so we can help them go back into the dark to do their crimes all over again."_

_Zachery smiled at her words and said, "What are you going to do-"_

"_With your case," she finished with a knowing grin, "We're going to let the chips fall where they may."_

_He shook his head at her and said, "I can't go to prison."_

"_And I have no intention of letting any partner of mine be behind bars for some bogus charge of murder," she said as she turned quickly, her eyes cutting to his with slight anger in her eyes._

_He felt his heart stop at her words and he shook his head in disbelief._

"_Partner?"_

"_You heard me," she said with a knowing smile, "Once you are cleared of these charges you have a bright career in front of you as my partner. That is, if you want it."_

_He smiled brightly at her words and he shook his head, "I don't know what to say."_

"_Say whatever you like," she replied as she walked toward him._

"_I'd have to find a new apartment," he said as he looked away from her. His mind was thinking over all the opportunities that he would receive by working with Salome. She was one of the best defense lawyers in South Carolina and to be her partner would do wonders for his almost broken reputation._

"_I tell you what," she said in a very Southern accent as she placed her long index finger upon his forehead, "Sleep on it. Give me your answer after I come back from my honeymoon."_

_He watched in disbelief as she walked toward the door and opened it only to reveal Sheriff Lucas Buck standing in the door frame. His eyes locked with the sheriff's inquisitive eyes and he smiled at the man as he watched him quickly turn his curious attentions upon the bride._

"_Sally May," Lucas asked, "What is going on here?"_

_She frowned at the sheriff as she waved him inside. She held the door open for Zachery and bade him farewell and quickly closed the door behind him. She turned to see Lucas smiling at her as he took in her wedding dress and slightly peeved face._

"_I can't help but wonder if there is somethin' going on between you and Zack," Lucas said with a smirk as he pointed toward the door._

"_There's nothing going on," she said in defense, "I've asked him to be my partner at the law firm."_

"_That is if he gets off that murder charge innit?"_

"_I have faith in the legal system that he will get off," she said with a smile._

"_Well so do I," he replied as he walked toward her with a large smile upon his face as he took in her cream colored wedding dress, "I'm glad you didn't wear white. I think everyone knows that that little thing was lost a long time ago."_

_She rolled her eyes at his observation and said in tired annoyance, "My father should be walking me down the aisle, not you Lucas."_

"_And you know that I am sorry about what your daddy did to you," he said as he looked into her eyes to see the quiet painful rage that stormed inside of her._

_She pulled away from him and walked toward the door. She lowered her head and looked to the floor as tears fell from her eyes._

"_They are calling me a gold digger, Lucas," she whispered._

"_Well are you?"_

_She turned to look at his cold gaze and shook her head at him._

"_Don't play that way," she stated in anger, "Not that way. Not with me."_

_She watched as he walked to her and gave her a small crooked smile, "You're right, Sally May, and I'm sorry."_

_The church organ rang out through the plastered wood of the halls and echoed in their ears. She smiled softly as she watched him extend his arm for her._

"_You ready Sally May?"_

_She took a deep breath to calm her conflicted nerves as she linked her arms within his and smiled as he opened the door for her._

"_As ready as I'll ever be, Sheriff," she replied as they walked arm in arm out of the small room, "I just wish I didn't have to do this in the house of the Lord. I'd much prefer to do this outside."_

"_You and I both Sally May."_

Tears fell from Salome's eyes and rolled down her neck as she leaned toward her husband. She carefully reached for his hand and held his in hers. She held it tightly in her hand, being careful of the IV line that was inserted into the top of his hand. She let a sob escape her as she looked upon the stubble upon his chin.

"You're the only man that I've ever loved," she whispered as her free hand moved a free strand of his hair out of his face. She could feel his breath touching lightly against her skin as she moved closer toward him.

"I miss your smile, Al," she said with a growing smile, "The house has lost its life without you. There's no laughter inside those walls without you," she closed her eyes in attempt to bite back the new forming tears, "I am given the most ugly looks. They think that I have done this to you," she shook her head at the thought that people actually believed that she did that unspeakable crime.

Her thumb gently caressed his hand as she looked down to him.

"The sheriff," she whispered and looked behind her quickly to make sure that no one was near to hear what she had to say to her husband.

Salome leaned to his ear and asked, "Did he do this to you, Albert? Did Lucas do this? Give me a sign if he did, Albert."

She pulled away from his ear and looked over him. She looked down at his hand once again in hopes that he would squeeze her hand in an attempt to tell her that it was Lucas Buck that had done this to him.

"I swear to you," she said as silent anger bubbled inside of the thin body, "that I will get you out of this. I will punish whoever has done this to us. They will suffer for this."

"Careful Sally May," she heard Lucas announce from behind her, "Never know who may be listenin' in on you."

She rolled her eyes, but ignored his presence behind her as she stood and leaned over her husband.

"Don't leave me here," she said in sadness, "I don't think that I'd survive without you. Just fight this, Albert. I'll fight right alongside you, my love."

Salome leaned forward and placed a soft lingering kiss upon Albert's dry, chapped lips as salty tears fell from her eyes and landed upon his skin.

"I love you with all of my heart," she whispered as she let her hand touch the stubble upon his face, "I'll give you a shave when I come visit tomorrow."

"Come on Sally May," Lucas announced as he watched the woman regretfully let go of her husband's clammy hand and walk toward him, doing as he had demanded without question.

"Lucas," she asked as she stopped in front of him. Her eyes darted around them to see if anyone was eavesdropping.

"What is it Sally," he asked as he looked down at her puffy, tearstained eyes.

She opened her mouth to talk but she quickly shut it. She shook her head and whispered, "Thank you for doing this, Sheriff."

He smiled as he watched her walk out of the door. He turned to look at the comatose senator and smiled at him.

"What does she see in you anyways," he asked to the old senator and then shrugged his shoulders, "Salome always was a sucker for good hearted guys. Guess that's why you're there and I'm up walkin' around, ain't that right Senator?"

He chuckled at the lack of response and turned to leave the man alone in the hospital room.

* * *

**And there you have it, chapter 4. I have 3 readers apparently. You guys are awesome!**


	5. Potential

**Chapter 5: Potential**

"_There's a god above you, another down below"-Jace Everett_

Weeks had went by without any trouble for Mary Murphy. She had the quick learners in her class. She taught the _Cheetah Team_ of the fifth grade and found that they were mostly good children. She wiped her hands to rid the chalk dust off of her hands and turned to her students as the bell rang for lunch.

"We'll finish our lesson after lunch," she informed them as she watched the children bolt out of their seats and hurry to the door to escape from having to do work.

She smiled as she turned to the door to see a short man standing in the door way looking rather embarrassed as he knocked upon the door frame.

"Hello Superintendent Chalmers," she announced as she at his ironed pants and flannel shirt that was ironed to perfection. His bald spot sparkled under the glistening rays of sunshine that burst through the window in the corner.

"Ms. Murphy," he announced as he walked into the classroom, "A word alone, please."

She nodded and waved him deeper inside of her classroom. She could see the slight apprehension that crossed his facial features.

"Is something wrong," she asked. She had hoped that he would have come into her classroom to praise her student's high test scores, but the look on his face told her otherwise.

"I was lookin' over your lesson plans Ms. Murphy," he said in slight anger, "And I saw something that disturbed me. I almost had a heart attack when I saw it.

Mary looked at the superintendent in confusion and shook her head, "Well what was it? We are learning a little biology and medical terms…that was the only thing that I strayed away from."

"You should these children a video about," he stopped and shook his head as he looked around the room in worry that someone would over hear him, "about gays."

She felt the laughter bubbling inside of her at his worries and shook her head as it escaped past her lips and filled the room. She could see him trying to give her a courteous smile, but she could see that he was really struggling with trying to understand her laughter.

"No sir," she informed him politely, "It was about AIDS, not gays."

He shook his head at her answer and replied, "It's a disease spread by the gays."

She felt her jaw drop just slightly at what she had just heard leave her boss' mouth. She had known that some of the teachers had been a bit backward in their thinking, but she had contributed it to their living in a small town that had remained blindly ignorant of the world around them. She expected a superintendent to be a little bit more open minded.

"Now Ms. Coombs has expressed to me her worry about you teaching our children, what with you being a-"

"You are aware that I can sue for discrimination if you continue on with that sentence," she replied hotly as her eyes bolted toward Selena's classroom. She could see the woman smiling as she taught her own students.

The short statured man shook his head at her and said, "I'm sorry Ms. Murphy, but in this town our children our taught it's Adam and Eve. Not Adam and Steve…or Alma and Eve, whatever the case may be."

"What are you telling me, Mr. Chalmers," she asked, trying to hold down her growing impatience the school's superintendent.

"If you show anything that has the homosexual lifestyle on display," he stated in a matter of fact tone that caused a shiver to run down her spine, "then you are out of here. I hate to tell you that, but that is just how it has to be."

She cast her eyes down to the floor and nodded, "Yes sir, I understand."

"Good," he replied, "I'd hate to lose you here. God knows you are a much better teacher than Ms. Coombs."

She forced a smile upon her face to hide the worry that filled her small frame as she watched the superintendent hurry out of her classroom. She couldn't lose her job. Her job was the only one that was putting food on the table every day and putting gas in their cars.

Anger quickly filled her as she looked toward Selena's door to see that she was walking toward her with a large smile upon her face.

"Some secrets should remain a secret," Selena announced in glee as she watched Mary turn quickly away from her in anger.

...

Craig looked around him as the instrumental orchestra of the crickets in the woods played around him in the dark. He watched as a car drove quickly down the road as he looked down at the door knob that led into the Martin & Wallace law firm.

He continued on with trying to jimmy the door unlocked as he fought with his small flashlight for light. His heart palpated with quick beats as he moved the knob and smiled as it opened as if by some sort of magic.

He quickly looked around him to assure himself that he was not being watched by any neighboring busy bodies that small towns were known for.

Satisfied that he was not being watched, Craig hurried into the office and closed the door behind him. He locked it to keep any other intruders, or a nosy sheriff, from walking in on him unexpectedly. He hurried to the small secretary's desk and fumbled inside the wide drawer like a teenage boy fumbling with a girl's bra in the back seat of an old Chevy.

His fingers brushed against a set of keys and a large victorious smile came over his face as he pulled them out of the desk. He looked around him at the two doors in the dark and made his decision of which office to go into first.

Craig picked the door closest to him and unlocked it. He opened the door and knew immediately that it was Zachery Wallace's office by the cheap paintings that was placed upon his wall. He may have not known Salome Martin personally, but he knew that she was not one for artwork by the way she refused to donate money to the school art program when he was in high school.

Sweat dripped from his forehead as he made his way toward the paper cluttered desk. His hands fumbled through the many files as he fought with his shaking hands to keep his flashlight steady as he read through each of the files.

"There's got to be something," he said to himself as he moves away from the large files and moves the pencil stapler and pen holder out of the way to get to the small slots that held the mail and other important documents.

His eyes dart to a paper lying at the bottom file holder that is stamped **CONFIDENTIAL** in bold red letters at the top of the page. He pushed the large blue coffee cup to the side and placed his hand on the paper to pull it out.

He jumped as he felt small hairy legs touch against his fingertips. He shined his flashlight down and jumped back as a large tarantula sat with its front legs up and sharp fangs bore at him. His heart beat like the pounding of a stampede of horses as he jumped back in fear.

"Jesus fuck!"

He hurried away from the desk and out the door, forgetting to lock it back as he made his way toward Salome's office door.

Craig looked down at the keys that he held tightly in his hands. The damned spider had caused his nerves to escape him. He fumbled with the keys as he tried to unlock the office door. He heard the click of the door and he hurried to open it.

A hand came out of nowhere and shoved the door closed on him. He turned quickly to see Zachery standing in front of him, blocking his entrance into the lawyer's office.

He backed away as the light came on by itself. His heart beat quickly as Zachery's dark eyes glared into his own.

"What do you think you're doing," Zachery asked with amusement in his deep voice as he glared down at the shaking burglar.

"I…I ugh," Craig said as he looked around the room, anywhere to not look this man in the eyes. He felt uneasy around him. He felt as if he should be walking on eggshells around him just as he had done with Lucas Buck.

Zachery chuckled at him and shook his head in amusement, "You are trying to help that like reporter, Abigail White, aren't you?"

Craig shook his head as he looked into the lawyer's piercing eyes and lied with a shrug of his shoulders, "No."

"Then what are you doing here?"

"I need some money for drugs," Craig lied.

"Right," Zachery announced with a large smile, "I'm a defense attorney. I make it my job to know when a criminal is lying," he rolled his eyes at Craig as he turned and locked Salome's door, "What's in it for you, tough guy? Sex? I think that may be out of the bargain."

Craig backed away from Zachery as he replied, "No, not sex. I'm a little more of a gentleman than you."

Zachery raised his thick eyebrows at Craig's accusation and said, "Is that right?"

"At least I don't kill my girlfriends and sleep with my married boss," Craig replied with a sharp tongue.

"Is that what they say at your little bar?"

"I want the fame of exposing you two and the sheriff for the crooked fucks that you all are," Craig informed him quickly. He watched as the lawyer's smile faded slightly at his confession.

"I know that Salome Martin has something to do with Lucas Buck and the comatose Albert Martin," Craig added in confidence, "I have the sneaking suspicion that she paid off the jury to have you get off scot free when everyone knew that you killed your girlfriend. People don't just drown in their own bathtub."

Zachery chuckled at the man's assumptions and shrugged his shoulders in arrogance, "She overdosed. I was with another girlfriend when she did that. Wasn't even home."

"No," Craig informed him, "You're a high functioning sociopath. I saw your priors."

Craig shook his head as a boiling anger and pride came over him as adrenaline raced through his veins like thorough bred quarter horses at the tracks.

"This town deserves the truth," he added in finality.

Zachery nodded at Craig's statement and replied, "You know. You're right. Trinity does deserve the truth. That's why I didn't call Lucas here."

Craig looked at him in confusion.

"But do you really think that Salome would put all of her secrets in an unguarded office," Zachery asked with childlike amusement inside of his eyes that sent a chill up Craig Healy's spine.

Zachery smiled as he watched fear and confusion flash in the man's eyes as he glared down at him.

"I'll help you," he added. He pointed to his office and shook his head, "But no more snooping in my office."

Craig looked over to Zachery's office door and shook his head as he remembered the giant spider inside.

"There's a giant fucking spider in there," he informed the lawyer that stood in front of him like a rich sociopathic giant.

"Yeah," Zachery said with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulder, "Her name is Anastasia. Salome brought her here to keep burglars from meddling where they don't belong. She's better than a dog."

"Yeah, she does a pretty damned good job," Craig answered with a weak smile as he looked down at his hand that the spider had almost attacked, "She almost bit me."

"Tell Ms. White that I will contact her," Zachery informed him in a professional tone, "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you to tell no one else about this arrangement, Mr. Healy. We wouldn't want both out heads on pikes at the city limit sign, would we?"

Craig nodded quickly at the lawyer's statement. He knew what they were getting into was dangerous from the get go. He had his doubts about Zachery, but the man seemed genuine in his want to help. He knew that Salome Martin used him as a lackey and he assumed that one day the man would get tired of it and turn on her. He knew it was human nature to tire of one's boss, even if you were having sex with her on the side.

Zachery smiled as a sense of accomplishment and pride filled him as he watched the young photographer hurrying out of the law office.

A clapping sound was heard from the dark corner. He turned with a large smile on his face as he watched Salome emerging from the shadows like a beautiful monster in a horror movie that had yet to be thought of.

"And the award for best actor goes to," she announced dramatically as she walked toward the door and looked out the window to see Craig running down the street away from their building in a hurry, "Mr. Zachery Wallace, attorney at law. One day to be district attorney."

"You think he fell for it?"

"Of course he did," Salome said as she turned back to him with a crooked smile upon her face, "He's Ben Healy's cousin. Brains aren't exactly what that family is known for. At least Ben is at the deeper end of the gene pool."

Zachery chuckled at Salome's words, "This town is full of airheaded idiots. They all deserve to die."

Salome's eyes glistened at his words and smiled as she said, "We all deserve to die. Even you, Mr. Wallace, even I."

...

Ben leaned back in his chair as he looked over to Lucas who was watching the news once again defile Salome Martin reputation as a great lawyer. The station was quiet except for the reporter's voice on the TV and Lucas' sounds of slight anger at the woman's words.

Ben looked out the window as the sound of a speeding car drove by. He immediately recognized it and smiled.

"Looks like Mrs. Martin is finally going back home," he announced as he looked over to Lucas who was now switching off the small television, "Any news on the senator's condition?"

"Still comatose, Ben," Lucas replied as he walked away from the television and toward the large coffee pot in the corner of the office to pour him a cup of hot coffee.

"Say," Ben announced in an attempt to sound nonchalant, "You wouldn't have anything to do with the senator's condition would you Lucas?"

Lucas looked over to him with a small amused smile upon his face at his deputy's bold question.

"Gettin' mighty bold there aren't we Ben?"

Ben shrugged his shoulders as he looked at his boss as he answered honestly, "Well I was just askin', Lucas. That little reporter came by earlier askin' a bunch of questions about you and Mrs. Martin. She's been askin' us all a bunch of strange questions. I need to know what to tell her."

Lucas shrugged his shoulders as he looked at his deputy, a large smile formed on his face at the simple answer to Ben's problem.

"Tell her the truth."

"And what version of the truth do I tell her," Ben asked in a slight accusatory tone.

"The one were I'm doing everything in my power that I can for a citizen of Trinity," he replied as he took a sip of his hot black coffee, "Just like I would for any other citizen in this town."

"Sheriff Buck," a female voice announced as she entered the building.

Lucas and Ben looked up to see Abby walking toward the counter with a small smile upon her petite face.

"Hello Ms. White," Lucas announced in his Southern accent with a large polite smile upon his face, "I hear you've been annoyin' some of my employees."

Abby smiled at his accusation and shrugged her shoulders.

"It's awfully late for you to be out, isn't it," Lucas asked as he looked at her ruffled clothes, stained jeans, and brown bag that he knew held a recording device.

"I need to talk to you," she informed him. Her eyes moved to Ben as she added, "Alone."

He nodded and waved her toward his office, "Let's chat in my office, shall we? Would you like anything? Coffee? Kolache?"

"No," she replied quickly as she walked into his office. She held on tightly to her bag as a feeling of foreboding came over her as Lucas closed the door behind her.

"So what can I help you with," he asked as he walked behind his large desk and sat down in his rolling chair.

"I know about Gail Emory," Abby informed him in a matter of fact tone, "About her unexplainable coma, just like Senator Martin."

"She fell down the stairs," Lucas replied, anger bubbled inside of him at the question but he covered the emotion quickly, "And it seems like you've been stickin' your nose in all the wrong places."

"That's why I've come to you," she said as she glared into his eyes with burning ambition, "Why not go to the source?"

He smiled at her statement and replied smugly with a shrug of his shoulders, "If you want to ask me something then ask it."

"Dr. Matt Crower," she said, "You know him?"

"You know I do," he replied, "Is there going to be a point to this or are we going to run around the merry-go-round like lil school children?"

She leaned forward and looked into his eyes, searching for the truth within them.

"I went to the institution that he was placed in to have a chat with him. They wouldn't allow me to see him. They said he wasn't allowed any visitors. One of my contacts showed me confidential records with your signature on them," her brows raised as she looked at his cold eyes, "along with Salome Martin's signature at the bottom which sealed his fate in that awful place."

"That awful place," Lucas asked, "The man tried to murder me."

"Why," she asked.

"Who knows the reasonings behind a mad man's actions," Lucas announced with a shrug of his shoulders.

"You do."

He smiled at her comeback and replied with a smug smile, "Are you askin' me for information on Salome Martin?"

"Yes," she answered, "So give."

Lucas smiled and shook his head at her demand.

"Well, I don't actually give. I deal."

Abby glared into his bright eyes. A shiver of fear ran down her spine, but she kept her eyes on the sheriff in front of her. She wouldn't falter on this.

"Then let's make a deal," she replied with confidence, "Do you want my soul, Sheriff Buck?"

"Yes actually," he replied in a matter of fact manner as he leaned back lazily in his chair.

She rolled her eyes at his answer and continued, "Fine, but I want to know about Salome Martin. Does Salome love her husband?"

He smiled at the simple question that didn't have a simple answer. He shrugged his shoulders and replied, "That's Sally May's greatest weakness. She has potential to be great. Hell, she's the only Trinity girl to leave this town and become successful because she didn't get knocked up in high school."

Abby watched as a smirk came over the sheriff's face at his statement on the young lawyer.

"Potential," she asked in slight confusion.

"That potential comes from her family," he informed her with a knowing smile, "They always tried to do great things with their talents."

"Why does she have potential," she asked, "What are Salome Martin's talents?"

Lucas smiled at her questions and shrugged his shoulders and said, "Now that's the million dollar question."

* * *

**Happy New Year!**

**Where are all the AG fans out there?**

**Leave me some reviews! **


	6. Baby Doll Murders

**Chapter 6: Baby Doll Murders**

"_Don't hide your mistakes 'cause they'll find you, burn you"- Three Days Grace_

Buddy Jewell's voice erupted from the large stereo speakers from the front of the bar as Selena Coombs strutted around the pool table with a large pool stick in her hand. She could feel the men's eyes on her as she pocketed another solid ball. Jim Bowman, her chosen pool partner for the night, looked her over and smiled as she leaned over the table. He felt his heart skip a beat as he tight black mini skirt moved up her leg and her shirt exposed her chest to him as the pool stick moved between her fingers like a fine Grecian temptress.

"How's school been goin' Selena," he asked as he watched her chosen ball miss the pocket.

"All's good," she said as she watched him lean over and eye his selected target, "Except for the new girl?"

She looked up at him and smiled as she took in his thinning sandy hair, growing stomach, five o'clock shadow and his trademark flannel shirt that he enjoyed wearing for a night on the town to have extramarital affairs.

"New girl," he asked as he hit the ball and missed the pocket completely, "I wasn't aware that a new family moved in."

"Not a student," she corrected as she walked around the pool table, examining the green fabric and the remaining balls to find her best shot, "There's a new teacher at the school. She's a mousy little bitch. She's always giving me dirty looks."

He smiled as he watched her take her shot and miss once again.

"Looks like she is ruining your game," he replied with a chuckle as he took a sip from his bottle of Bud.

She smiled at him and watched as he leaned over the table to take his shot.

"The only thing that she is ruining is the children," she said in her sultry voice, "She's a lesbian. She's been teachin' them all kinds of things about the gay culture."

"What," Jim Bowman asked as he looked to the scantily clad elementary school teacher, "Wait a minute," he watched her take a sip of his beer, "You're tellin' me that there's some carpet muncher teachin' my little girl."

"That's exactly what I'm saying," Selena answered with a smile as she bent over the pool table to take her shot, "It's an abomination."

Selena watched as anger passed through Jim's eyes at the revelation. She couldn't help but egg him on to add fuel to the fire that was burning inside of him.

"No tellin' what she's teaching them," Selena added, "Or what she talks about when she had them one on one, especially the little girls. Our girls don't need that kind of message in their heads."

She watched as he bit his lip in anger and clutched his pool stick tightly in his hands. His knuckles turned white as he held onto the wooden stick.

"Come to think of it," he replied, desperately trying to keep his anger under control, "Lana has been talkin' to her momma about the gays. You think it can be from that confused whore?"

"Maybe," Selena answered with a wicked smile as she hit the last ball into the pocket, "I wouldn't put it passed her. She does have a past."

"What do you mean?"

"She has track marks on her arms that she hides with tacky long sleeve sweaters," Selena said as she placed grabbed her own glass and took a small sip and looked at him from the top of her eyes.

"Damn," he yelled in growing rage as he threw the pool stick on to the table. Selena smiled softly as she watched him run his hand through his thinning hair in an attempt to calm himself down.

"I won't have some god damned carpet munching druggie around my fucking daughter," Jim hissed in anger as he glared down at his pool partner.

"I don't blame you," she purred as she looked deep into his eyes daring him to do something about it, "What are you going to do about it Jim?"

He shook his head as he looked into her dark chocolate brown eyes.

"I don't know," he confessed as he looked around the small bar.

"Well," she whispered as she placed a small kiss upon his cheek, "You and your friends can scare them outta town."

Selena smiled as she watched the light bulb go off in his head.

"Selena, honey," he announced as he turned away from him, "You should have told us about this earlier."

She smiled as he turned away from her and stormed away, leaving her alone in the bar to set the pool table up again.

"No wonder Lucas used you so much," she heard Salome announce from behind her. She turned to see Salome walking in from the shadows of the bar toward her with a large smile upon her face, "As always I like your work, Selena."

Salome smiled as she placed three hundred dollar bills upon the green fabric of the pool table. Selena smiled as she took the money and looked down at Salome's hands to see that she had a glass of straight bourbon in her glass.

"Now I wasn't aware that you knew a dragon," Salome announced with a smile as she glared down into Selena's eyes causing a shiver of doubt to come over the slutty school teacher, "Must be fun having sleep overs all the time with such extraordinary creatures."

She watched as Salome sat her full glass of brown liquor on the pool table and started to walk away, leaving the drink beside her hand. Selena turned and watched Salome walk with casual authority, the same that Lucas walked with.

"You feelin' scared, Sally May? You're awfully pale," Selena announced and smiled as the lawyer turned to look at her with amusement in her eyes.

"I'm not afraid of them," Salome answered with arrogance, "But I am worried."

"About the little reporter?"

"No," Salome answered as she shook her head with a small uncomfortable smile that crossed her face, "My husband may slip away from me and that scares the hell out of me."

"Better watch that Achilles' heel of yours Sally May," Selena announced.

"It's not a weakness to love somebody, Selena," she replied as she gazed into the woman's eyes, knowing that she loved Lucas Buck but had never received any love back.

"Must be nice to have love returned," Selena whispered as she took Salome's glass and took a long drink from it.

Salome raised her brow as she watched Selena place the glass on the table with a loud bang.

"It is," she said with a large smile, "Now," she turned slightly away from the school teacher, but held eye contact with her, "I hope that I have your vote for this election for mayor, Mrs. Coombs."

Selena smiled as she watched the dark haired lawyer turn away from her once again.

"Oh don't worry about that."

"I'm not," Salome reassured her with a bemused smile as she sashayed out of the small honkey tonk bar, leaving Selena alone once again.

...

_Albert Martin stood in his personal office within his large house in Trinity. He had finally had enough of the hustle and bustle of Charleston and came home to be with his soon to be wife. He poured him a small glass of bourbon and looked at the African Dan mask that looked back at him with soulless eyes from its perch on his cream painted wall. The mask had a high forehead, a pouting mouth like that of a small child that did not receive the cookie that he had been promised, a pointed chin, and scarification designs that separated the nose from the forehead. The design was quite breathtaking and always caused a visitor to stop and stare at its strange appearance._

"_Nice mask," he heard the distinct Southern accented sheriff announce from behind him._

_He turned and smiled at the sheriff's intrusion. He couldn't help but chuckle as he took in the man's vest and trench coat as he leaned against the door frame with his eyes dead set on his own._

_Albert pointed to his glass liquor bottle and asked politely, "Can I offer you a drink, Sheriff Buck?"_

"_On duty," Lucas said as he walked deeper into the well decorated office of the state senator, "What's the mask all about, Senator? I didn't take you for an artifacts collector."_

_He smiled as he looked over to the mask and sat into his leather chair and waved for Lucas to take a seat in front of him._

"_Sally insisted upon it," Albert explained, "She thinks that it will protect the house from evil spirits."_

"_Do you believe her?"_

_Albert leaned back at the sheriff's question and nodded as he said, "It's what I love the most about her. Her beliefs, they are quite extravagant. She has her own set of beliefs."_

"_So," Lucas asked in a tone filled with arrogance, attempting to change the subject as he turned his attentions away from the mask and back upon the aging senator, "You plannin' on running for senator again?"_

_Albert chuckled at the question and shook his head as he answered honestly, "Nah. I think…I think that I'm going to settle down and let Sally go after her own ambitions."_

"_Ambitions huh," Lucas said as his brows furrowed, "That can be mighty vicious problem for a relationship, especially with young Zackie boy hangin' around her like a piglet searchin' for its momma's tit. Ambition can ruin a relationship."_

_Albert's smile faded as he listened to the sheriff's attempts to get the upper hand on him. He glared at the dark eyed man that sat in front of him in his own home._

"_I'm going to tell you a secret Lucas," he informed the sheriff as he leaned back in his chair in the same arrogant manner that Lucas had done several times in the past._

"_Oh yeah, and what's that," Lucas asked with an amused smile._

"_Salome has let me in on you," Albert answered honestly with a large knowing smile upon his face, "You don't and can't scare me, Sheriff Buck," he popped Lucas' last name loudly, "I'm almost 60 years old. I know all about Trinity and her secrets," he stopped with a large smile on his face, "and your family."_

_Lucas looked into the senator's eyes to see that they sparkled with the same victory that he knew his own sparkled with when he had the upper hand in a situation. _

"_She has, has she," he asked with an amused smile as he looked at a picture of the dark haired lawyer that sat upon Albert's desk, "Has she told you about herself?"_

"_Sheriff Buck," Albert said as he rocked in his leather chair, "She's told me that you are protective over her and I respect that a whole helluva lot-"_

"_If you hurt Sally May or break her heart-"_

"_I know you care about her," Albert interrupted to continue his own argument, "I care about her too. I love Salome, that's why I asked her to marry me."_

_He watched in interest as Lucas straightened his dark vest and stood from the chair with a slow forming smile tugging at the corners of his lips. He laid his head back against the leather of his own chair as he watched the sheriff walk toward the door._

"_As long as we got that straight," Lucas replied as he allowed his observant eyes to look at the African mask and smiled._

"_Oh and don't worry about your next election," the senator said as he watched with cold eyes as the sheriff made his way out of the office._

"_Oh I wasn't worried," Lucas replied as he made he left the senator alone. There were only two people in Trinity that he could not threaten and that was Senator Martin and soon to be Salome Martin._

_..._

Salome sighed as she walked into her lonely and cold bedroom. Laughter had not erupted from this room in a long while as she looked down at her neatly made bed that had remained empty on one side. She had never imagined a world without Albert beside her. She closed her eyes and smiled as memories of her smiling husband came into her mind.

She sighed once again as she laid down on her comfy bed and placed her sleepy head upon his feathered pillow and held it tight to her. She took a deep breath and smiled as she took in his subtle scent that he had left behind, a scent that she had become accustomed to smelling every day for the last decade.

"I want you home," she whispered as she closed her eyes and curled herself up. She felt her head become heavy as sleep quickly found its way over her as she slipped into a light slumber.

"Baby mine don't you cry," a soft voice sang through the walls.

Salome bolted up from her sleep and looked around the bedroom. Her heart dropped into her stomach as the bedroom door flew open as if a violent gust of wind had blown it open in a rage. Adrenaline fueled her out of her bed and into the hallway where she heard the soft Disney tune playing from the nursery down the hall from her.

She walked slowly toward the door with her eyes and ears opened, readying herself for seeing an intruder in her home. She opened the door quickly causing it to bang against the wall behind it as she glared into the dark bedroom. Her sharp eyes scanned the room to see that nobody was hiding within the small room.

"Lucas," she hissed in anger as she turned her back on the nursery. Anger filled her as she thought of the sheriff being in her house without her permission. She turned quickly and walked into the nursery to turn the blaring radio off.

As she turned the radio off, a small white basinet moved back and forth as if an invisible hand were rocking the empty basinet. She looked at it confusion as she pushed herself forward. A white silk sheer cloth covered the basinet as she came closer to it to examine it.

Salome pulled the cloth off of the basinet to see a small antique naked baby doll laying in the basinet as if it were a real baby. A knife was bludgeoned into the doll's head between its forever gazing brown eyes.

She jumped back slightly at the violence that had been placed on this small doll. She shook her head in anger and reached for the doll to pull the knife out of its head, but as her fingers grazed against the doll's cold ceramic skin a chanting filled the room as if a tribe of Native Americans were standing in this bedroom.

She covered her ears as the strange chanting became louder and louder to the point that she felt that her ear drums would burst from the intensity of the chants.

"Stop," she screamed in pain. She turned quickly and her heart dropped at the sight in front of her.

A large Native American woman stood in the door way glaring at her. The woman's eyes burned white as if she had been blinded in her life. Salome's body trembled as she watched images pass through the white abyss of the woman's eyes. Tears filled her eyes as she watched Native American men fall to the ground from slit throats, women scream as white men raped them, and young children die from the beatings that they received.

"No," Salome screamed as she tore her eyes away from the woman's white eyes. She closed her eyes and willed the spirit away with her mind. Her heart beat quickly as forced her eyes opened to see that the woman had disappeared from her door way.

She took a deep breath and pushed her feet forward out of the nursery room and away from the bludgeoned doll. She hurried into her husband's office to seek refuge under the Dan mask that would protect her from the evil that lurked within Trinity.

As she hurried into the office, she tripped over her own feet and fell in front of the trash can beside the large desk. She felt a feeling of nausea come over her as she tried to push herself from the floor. She grasped onto the trash can and pulled herself up as the contents of her stomach emptied into the trash can. She gagged as she vomited into the once clean trash can.

"Looks like that mask doesn't work," Lucas said with arrogance from behind her.

She turned quickly to see Lucas standing in the door frame with a large smile on his face as he looked down at her pale body.

"You sick bastard," she hissed as she pushed herself from the floor and barreled toward him in anger.

Lucas looked at her in amusement as she glared up at him with squared shoulders.

"How dare you go into that nursery room and do that to me," she screamed as hot tears formed into her eyes as she glared at him.

Confusion filled his eyes as he looked at the teary eyed lawyer that stood in front of him.

"What are you talking about," he asked as he looked down at her in worry. He had come to check on her to make sure that Craig Healy had not been snooping around her house while Albert Martin was still comatose.

She shook her head as all of the color from her face left her face and said, "It wasn't you."

"What are you talkin' about Sally May," he asked once as he watched her walk toward the door frame.

"There was a doll and singing," she said, panic laced every word that she spoke, "And some fat Indian squaw in the nursery."

He watched as her eyes widened as she added, "Someone was in here Lucas."

Lucas watched as she hurried passed him back toward the nursery. He followed behind her quickly as she disappeared into the room. He stopped and looked at the young lawyer as she stood over the stabbed baby doll in the basinet.

He walked toward her as she glared out the open window with anger beautifully painted upon her face. He smiled as he looked down at the doll and moved it in the basinet to see a small note lying behind it with glued on letters that had been cut out of newspapers and magazines to create a lame note.

"Sally May," he said as he held the note up to her, "You've got mail."

Salome turned to him with anger in her eyes as she took in the crumpled paper in his hands.

"What does it say?"

"You think you run the town," Lucas read aloud with a smirk on his face, "But I'll run you into the ground," Lucas rolled his eyes at the failed attempt to sound like Dr. Seuss, "P.S: do you love what I did to your hubby?"

"Son of a bitch," she hissed in growing anger as the words settled into her mind, "Whoever this fuck is, is targeting me, not Albert."

Lucas watched as Salome shook in anger as she glared out the opened window once again. He watched as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she tried to calm herself from the rage that was boiling inside of her.

"The evil that lives in this town," she whispered as she looked out at the dark night that surrounded her house, "is supposed to go to one and only one," she paused as she looked to him and shook her head, "But something went wrong, Lucas."

He watched as anger burned inside of her eyes with a new fervor. She turned to him and glared into his eyes as she walked toward him.

"You bring in that fuck Craig Healy. You find out what he knows and you talk to Dr. Peele. You find out what is wrong with Albert. And when you do all of this, you and Ben both better tell Craig that if he knows what is good for him that he will run away and never come back because I will bury him."

...

Bare limbs tangled together between the sheets of the bed as Mary and Abby slept soundly together. Small sweat beads formed on both of their foreheads from the hot midnight summer air that filled the small apartment.

"Queers go home!"

They both bolted out of their sound sleep and looked toward the window that overlooked the back parking lot closest to the woods.

Glass shattered as they pulled themselves out of the bed. A large brick rolled across their floor as they carefully moved around the shattered glass on the floor toward the thrown brick.

Abby hurried toward the brick and picked it up to see a note taped against it. She pulled the note off and read it as a blind panic came over her. Mary looked over to the window and shook her head as her eyes widened at the scene below.

"Fagz go home," Abby reads from the letter and shakes her head as she walks over to Mary, being careful of the broken glass.

Her eyes widened as she watched a wooden cross burn with red hot flames over it, illuminating the entire parking lot.

A sob escaped Mary as she looked at the warning and hurried away from the window.

"We need to get out of here," she screamed at Abigail.

"We can't just leave," Abby informed her as she watched her lover rub at the scars on her arms, "I have a job to do."

"Your job isn't as important as our lives," she screamed as she looked at Abby in disbelief.

"Our lives?! All those trailer trash fuckers are doing is trying to scare us out," Abby argued.

"No," Mary snapped, "I'm going to lose my job because of how I love. We are having crosses burning in our parking lot and fucking bricks thrown into our bedroom. That's not okay Abby!"

"It's not but-"

"No," Mary snapped, "You drug me out here. You said everything would be okay and now things are worse than they have ever been!"

Abby shook her head as she watched Mary turn her back on her.

"Where are you going?"

Mary opened the door and screamed, "I'm going to sleep on the couch!"

Abby shook her head in anger as she looked back to the broken mirror. She knew that the town had been edgy with a lesbian teaching their children, but she could wager her whole paycheck that either Salome or Lucas had something to do with this attack.

She would get to the bottom of this mess if it was the last thing that she would do.

* * *

**Reviews are always great! They keep my moving forward :)**


	7. Somebody's Knockin'

**Chapter 7: Somebody's Knockin'**

"_Demons will charm you with a smile"-Sweeney Todd_

Mary looked out of what remained of the window as steam rose from her coffee cup. Morning had come quickly for her on the couch. She could hear Abby fumbling in their shared bathroom as she dressed to get ready for whatever lead she had for the day. She knew that they needed to talk about their argument, but it seemed that they would forget that it would happen. It wasn't healthy, she knew that, but it was a bump they had fallen into.

"_Everything will be just fine."_

Abby's reassuring words echoed through her mind as she thought about their life in Charleston before they had come to Trinity. She had given up everything to come down to this town all for Abigail to chase her dream, but she had yet to have any benefits from the move. Every day that passed her by was one day closer to the day that she would be fired for some ignorant reason from her job, the only source of income that they had coming in steadily.

She smiled as the memory of their first meeting passed through her mind. She could remember the very first promise that Abigail White had promised her and had tried to keep which is one of the reasons that she had stayed. Abby kept the want for drugs at bay and kept her happy most of the time, but things were dramatically changing.

_The Macarena played in the dark, smoky club of Charleston, South Carolina. The music thumped through the club and caused Mary's glass of Sprite to vibrate to the beat. Mary looked to the left to see her friend dancing sexually against a bunch of men._

_She had gone along out of loneliness with her old friend from high school. She had prayed that someone would bring her out of her depression and out of the blue her friend Mayra had called her to come with her to the bar._

_Mary quickly felt out of place in this bar. She had just come to terms with her new found sexuality and her continuous fight with drugs. _

"_You alone," a sweet Southern voice asked from beside her._

_She turned her attentions to the owner of the voice to see a very striking woman standing in front of her. The woman wore a bright yellow skirt and a simple white shirt that showed off her mid drift. A silver belly button ring twinkled at her as if it were an invitation that only she was offered. She looked up at the woman's short blonde hair and bright smile. _

"_What," Mary asked over the thumping club music._

"_I asked if you are alone," the woman asked as she sat in the seat across from her, but quickly slid down the bright red booth seat to sit beside her. Alcohol reeked off of the woman's body as Mary slightly moved away from her._

"_Uhm," Mary struggled as the woman's bright eyes peered at her in wonder. She pointed toward Mayra and replied, "My friend kind of left me here alone."_

_Mary turned back to the woman and smiled as she watched a sympathetic grin cover her face. She felt a wave of self-conscious embarrassment come over her as she looked down at her ugly long sleeve sweater. She pulled at the sleeves in hopes of hiding the scars of her past from the beautiful woman that seemed to have formed a quick, although drunken, interest in her._

_The woman reached out and placed her hand upon Mary's covered wrist and whispered, "Your past isn't anything to be self-conscious about."_

_Mary looked at the woman with a strange wonder in her eyes and nodded. She had heard that many, many times, but it seemed like it meant something more coming from this woman's pink lips, as if it should be a statement that could be attainable._

"_I'm Mary," she said with a smile as she held her hand out to the pale woman, "Mary Murphy."_

"_I'm Abigail White," the woman said with a smile and held Mary's hand within her own, "Call my Abby. All my friends do."_

"_Friend," Mary asked with curiosity as she looked at the beautiful stranger._

"_Yeah," Abby stated with a chuckle. She slowly pulled up Mary's sleeve and took in her old track marks and burn scars, "You've had a bad life. I could tell before I even sat down. You look like you could use a good friend."_

_Mary shivered at Abby's touch. The touch caused a strange magnetic charge to move between the two of them that Mary had never in her life felt before. She felt herself moving closer to Abby's side._

"_Or a good lay," Abby added as she took a swig of her flavored vodka drink._

_Mary smiled at her own sense of bravery as she looked at Abby._

"_How about both," Mary dared to ask as she slowly looked into Abby's eyes. A blush quickly came over her as she watched the woman smile at her courageous words._

_Abby nodded and raised her glass in the air and asked, "How about a drink Mary?"_

"_Sure."_

_Abby smiled as she watched a waiter walk toward them to serve them. Abby let her hand wrap around Mary's and grasped it tightly as if to protect her from the world._

_Mary shivered as she felt Abby move close to her ear and whisper, "Stick with me kid and I'll give you the world."_

The sound of the phone ringing violently jerked Mary out of her reminiscing on the past. She looked away from the window and hurriedly made her way out of the bedroom and into the kitchen. She sat her coffee cup onto the table and answered the phone.

"Hello," she answered. She could hear deep breathing on the other end of the phone before a man answered with the most polite Southern charm that she had ever heard in her life.

"Yes mam," the man announced over the phone, "We had a message on our answerin' machine last night for a broken window. I'm Jackson Jumper of Trinity Hometown Hardware."

"Yes," she answered as she watched Abby come out of their room, now fully dressed, "There was a brick thrown through the window late last night."

"Yeah," he said casually, "Teenagers probably. Listen, Miss Murphy, I can come by today if you are available?"

"I'd greatly appreciate that, but I have to work today."

"No problem," he answered. She could hear the flipping of pages in the background on his end of the line, "What time is your lunch? We aren't too busy today. I think I can fit you in somewhere."

"My lunch is from 10:55 to 11:50," she informed him as she turned to see Abby playing with their dog, Carrie.

"You are lucky," Jackson stated happily, "I'll see you then."

Mary hung up the phone without expressing her gratitude to the man and glared at her lover as she pulled on her brown bag and her backpack.

"Where are you going," Mary asked as she hurried after Abby who was making her way toward the door to sneak out without saying good bye.

"Craig left me a message that Mrs. Martin's law partner has agreed to give me an inside story on all of this," Abby answered in a matter of fact tone as she looked Mary in the eyes. Honesty was clear in her voice as she gave Mary a smile.

Mary shook her head in slight defeat. She hated that Abby was becoming distant as this story progressed. She placed her hand on Abby's cheek and shook her head.

"Abigail," she said sadly as she sighed deeply, "Promise me that you will come home early tonight?"

Abby smiled and placed a kiss upon Mary's soft lips and said, "Don't worry. I will be home. We'll have a nice dinner tonight."

Mary rolled her eyes at Abby's empty promise.

"We'll go to Charleston for the night," Abby said with a bright smile.

"Promise," Mary asked as she looked into Abby's eyes with hope burning in her own eyes.

Abby smiled at her lover and shook her head, "I promise."

Mary smiled softly as she watched her lover walk out of the door, leaving her alone in their cold apartment to dress for school.

...

Salome walked into the hospital with her head hung low. Dr. Billy Peele had called for her earlier and she had hurried out of her office to make it down. She could feel eyes of the patients looking at her, judging her, with their harsh eyes.

She hurried to the small nurses' station in the middle of the waiting room and smiled at the young nurse that peered over her small mountain of paperwork.

"Mrs. McKenzie," she said, "Dr. Peele called me. Is my husband okay?"

The nurse looked up to Salome with a look of cold sadness that resonated in her green eyes. Salome bit at her lip as she awaited the woman's response to her question. Dread filled her body at the unpredictable state that her husband was in.

"He's with a patient right now," the nurse explained and pointed toward the lumpy cheap chairs behind her, "You can wait for him if you'd like."

Salome nodded without argument and took her place beside one of the patients. Her eyes gazed down at the floor as the pain and worry of the many what-ifs ran through her mind. She found herself emerging more and more into her thoughts as she the cold wind from the old air conditioner breeze past her. She could hear the soft chattering of the patients around her, but she doused their voices out with her own memories.

"How's your husband doing?"

She continued to look at the floor, unaware of the question that one of the waiting patients had just asked. She blinked quickly and looked up at the man and shook her head as she took in his small smile.

"What," she asked with an apologetic tone.

"I asked how your husband was doing," he repeated.

She gave him a soft smile as her forehead wrinkled with obvious worry. She shook her head and said, "He's still in a coma, but they are hopeful that he'll come out of it soon."

The man smiled and said, "My wife is in a coma too. We pray for you and your husband every night."

She gave him a soft smile and shrugged her shoulders.

"Thank you," she replied softly as she looked away from him and toward the patient rooms where nurses were making their way in and out to check on the various patients.

"Ya know," the man continued, "I don't think you did anything."

She smiled at him and nodded her head, "I didn't do anything. I love him."

"That's why we pray for you as well," he said, "We pray that the Lord will give you strength to make it through this troubling time."

"Mrs. Martin," Billy's voice announced from inside of his office.

Salome looked toward him and then back to the man beside her.

"Thank you for the words of encouragement," she whispered as she collected her purse close to her and stood to walk into the office of the new town doctor.

"Now Mrs. Martin," Billy Peele announced as he watched Salome sit in the chair in front of his desk and look out toward the window, "I know you've been in and out of here all week. It isn't comforting to receive bad news about yourself, only to end up having to admit your own husband in-"

He looked over to her to see that she had spaced out on him. He could see the sadness in her eyes as she looked down to the tiled floor. He could see the memories flashing through her eyes as she sat in front of him.

_Salome watched as Albert looked up at her from his place on the ground. He kneeled on one knee as he looked up at her from his place on the sidewalk._

"_Get up," she whispered with an embarrassed smile as she watched the onlookers stop and watch them. Cars honked as they passed by them. _

_She watched as he placed his hand inside of his coat pocket. A shiver of delight ran down her spine as she watched him withdrawn a black velvet box and open it to reveal a simple yet beautiful diamond encrusted gold ring. _

"_Sally May," he whispered with a smile as he looked deeply into her eyes, "Will you do me the honor of being my wife?"_

_She placed her gloved hand against her lips as tears of ecstasy escaped her. She shook her head as her smile widened and she fell to her knees in front of him on the dirty sidewalk._

"_Yes," she answered in delight as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close to her in a tight hug. _

"Mrs. Martin," he said once again, this time earning a response from her. He watched as she blinked out of her trance and looked back up to him with a small smile.

"I prefer to do discuss these things privately," he informed her as he looked at her with great concern. He could see the look of worry come over her soft features.

"What things," she asked in concern as she watched him fiddle with the pen between his fingers, "I'm sorry I don't know what you need to talk about?"

I called you in here about your husband," he admitted.

"Yes," she said in a harsh tone, "I figured that. We've already discussed my problem. So what _thing _needs to be discussed?"

He smiled slightly at her reply and dropped his pen upon his messy desk. Her dark eyes glared at him.

"Uhm," he replied, "Look I'm sorry to be the one to inform you of this, but, uhh," he stopped and looked into her grievous eyes, "I'm afraid that Albert Martin may never wake up from his coma."

Billy watched as her features hardened at his words. The lines on her forehead defined as she looked away from him in an attempt to keep the tears from escaping her. He watched as this woman struggled to keep up her cold exterior in front of him.

"I think we should-"

"No," she answered, her voice cracking slightly, "He will wake up," she nodded at the doctor, "He will."

He watched as she stared at him with an unbreakable mask. He had watched as wives broke down in hysterics at the loss of their husbands. He could tell that Salome was fighting the urge to do as they did and she was succeeding. He had noticed on his last run in with her that she had the ability to control her emotions just as another strong figure in this town. She came off as a female version of the sheriff.

"It's a very slim chance," he replied honestly. He knew that he was coming off as cold, but he had made it a policy to be completely honest with a family's loved ones.

She shook her head at his answer.

"And if he does wake up," he offered to give the woman a dash of hope, "He may have some abnormalities. Recent brain scans show signs of a recent stroke."

Salome shook her head and offered him a thin smile as she held his gaze for a few moments as she searched for the impurities of his soul.

"Well," she whispered as she looked toward him with sarcasm in her eyes, "I'm sure dying in _your _care is a blessing."

"Now Mrs. Martin," he tried to reassure.

"Have you ever looked into the face of evil, Dr. Peele?"

He cocked his head to the side at the strange question that the lawyer had just asked. He had recognized the question; someone had asked him the same exact question when he had first came to Trinity.

"Well," he answered, "There is evil in us all."

No," she said with a harsh tone and a dark gaze, "I mean pure, unadulterated evil. Have you looked into their eyes?"

"You know Selena Coombs asked me the same thing when I came down here. What is it with this town and evil spirits?"

She chuckled as his response.

"My husband will be fine," she insisted with a large, unnerving smile, "You want to guess why, Doctor?"

He smiled at her optimism for her husband and replied, "Why?"

"I have looked into the eyes of true evil," she informed him harshly, "My arrogance can put Satan himself on edge."

"Mrs. Martin," he said trying to rationalize the clearly emotionally distraught female in front of him, "I really don't think there is much chance in him waking up again," he watched as she shrugged her shoulders, "No matter what your relationship with the Devil is."

...

A knock rang through the small apartment as Mary threw her small purse onto the couch. She hurried to the door and opened it to reveal a dark haired man with a bright innocent smile standing in the door frame.

Her eyes glance at the name that is stitched into the thick tan overalls that he wore over his regular clothes. The name 'Jumper' looked back at her in red stitching.

"Jumper," she announced with a smile. If she would have known the residents of Trinity better, she would have known that the man standing in her door way was none other than Zachery Wallace, attorney at law.

"Miss Murphy," he drawled out in his deep Southern accent. Carrie barked at him as Mary allowed him entrance into her home.

"Cute dog," he said as he watched the small dog bark and back away from him in fear and a small ounce of courage as it moved toward her owner, "What's her name?"

"Carrie," Mary answered with a smile as she picked the small dog from the floor and attempted to quiet her.

"Great name," Zachery said as he watched the woman pet her dog lovingly as it licked at her face. He hid the disgust on his face as the dog placed germs upon the woman's thin skin.

"My girlfriend picked it out," Mary admitted as she walked toward the bedroom door with him following close behind her, "She likes Steven King. Big horror fan."

Zachery chuckled at her words as he walked into the bedroom to see the board that they had placed on it during the night to keep the mosquitos and other summer insects out of the room as they slept cozily in their bed together.

"I have a dog too," he lied as he bent on his knees and looked at the damage that Jim Bowman had caused, "His name is Logan. My wife picked him out."

"Oh," she announced happily at the mention of his marriage, "Do you have kids?"

"Nah," he replied, "I wouldn't want to burden them with having to deal with me. Why do you ask?"

He looked to her and gave her a half grin as he waited for her answer.

"I'm the new teacher in town," she replied as she shrugged her left shoulder, "I teach at the elementary school in town."

"I thought I recognized that name," he replied as he stood from his place.

"So uh," she struggled to keep conversation as she watched him pull the board from the window and removed the excess glass, "Why don't you want kids exactly?"

"I'm a recovering drug addict," he replied as if it were common knowledge that everyone should know about, "I've been sober two years now."

"Really," she asked as she looked at him in slight shock. She felt her hand moving of its own accord to her covered arm and felt lightly of the old track marks that corrupted her perfectly pale skin.

"Yep," he answered casually and looked over to her with a look of sympathy, "And I can tell by those sleeves in this heat that you are too."

She looked at him with a small smile and shook her head as a soft embarrassed blush came across her face. It wasn't a blush of attraction; it was a blush of amazement. Amazement that there was someone out there that actually understood the grip that drug addiction had on someone. Abby didn't understand.

Since they had moved into this new town, the pull to find drugs tugged more and more violently on her as the days wore by. She had no one to talk to, especially now that Abby spent her nights collaborating with Craig.

"Would you like something," she asked as she pointed toward the kitchen, "Water? Tea?"

"A big glass of sweet tea sounds great," he replied with a small smile on his face. He watched as the woman turned whimsically on her heel and walked out of the bathroom. His smile quickly faded into a sneer as he listened to the dog growl at him from the living room where Mary quickly sat him down to fix his drink.

* * *

**What is Zachery up to?**


	8. The Rage

**This show isn't for the faint of heart. Just a warning.**

* * *

**Chapter 8: The Rage**

"_You might remember me, I was your next of kin" –Jace Everett_

_ Zachery smirked as he watched his girlfriend, Angelica, giggle as the warm water in the tub caressed her tanned tight skin softly as a plethora of bubbles hid her more luscious body parts from his sharp eyes. He smiled she took a sip of the white wine that he had bought for her for this very occasion._

_Angelica had made partner at their law firm that day. Zachery did not make partner at their law firm that day._

_He felt the rage bubbling inside of him as he watched his girlfriend chuckle about how animal like she was when their boss had questioned her on her knowledge of the law all the way down to what was on the Food Channel the previous night._

_Zachery gave her a soft, happy smile as he handed her a small tray of chocolate covered strawberries to eat in the warm water. He placed the tray on the ground beside her and sat down on the dry floor behind her._

"_I'm glad you aren't angry," Angelica whispered as she leaned her neck toward him. She smiled as his fingers lightly touched her skin and began to give her a comforting message. She felt no ill will from him as his fingers kneaded at her wet flesh._

_He watched as she took a small bite from the chocolate covered strawberries and asked, "Now why would I be angry?"_

_He felt her shrug her shoulders under his grasp._

"_I don't know," she said with a winning smile on her sharp features, "Momma was worried that you may be angry that Vega gave me the promotion that you wanted."_

_Angelica downed the rest of the white wine and closed her eyes as the soft jazz music radiated into the bathroom from their shared bedroom._

"_On the contrary," Zachery said as he quietly pulled out a capped heroin filled syringe from his pocket, "I'm happy for you. That's why I went through all that trouble in making those chocolate strawberries that you are such a fan of."_

_She chuckled at him and turned around in her tub to face him. She smiled as she looked into his dark eyes and placed a soft kiss upon his lips._

_Zachery shook the cap off of the syringe with his thumb and spoke as the cap fell to the tiled floor, "What do you think about moving to Trinity?"_

_She chuckled at his words, but did not turn to face him as she replied in a surprised tone, "You mean that little shit hole you escaped from," she took another bite of a strawberry, "Why would you ever want to go back there?"_

"_I got a job offer," he said casually, his grip on the syringe was tight._

"_No," she stated harshly, "I just started my new job here," she licked her fingers of the excess chocolate, "I must say that's rather selfish of you to ask, Zack."_

_He smiled with wicked intent as he lifted the needle above her exposed flesh._

"_I'm selfish," he hissed, trying to hold in the rage that was bubbling inside of his male frame, "I'm selfish?!"_

_Angelica turned quickly to see her boyfriend lurching at her with a syringe in his hand. She watched in horror as the needle pierced her skin and the poison rushed through her veins to quickly overtake her motor skills._

_She choked on her own breath as the drug took a quick effect upon her thin frame. Her hand grasped tightly onto Zachery's hand in an attempt to keep her head above the lukewarm bath water._

"_Why," she forced herself to ask as she glazed into his soulless, almost demon-like eyes._

"_Why," he asked with a smile, "because you are a selfish bitch!"_

_She started to slip under the water, but he pulled her arm quickly and looked her in the eyes._

"_No, I want you to hear this," he whispered as he looked at her trembling body, "That was supposed to be my job. All I want in this world is power. Power over money, power over people, and power over women. That's all I wanted. You see I love power, not you, power. To get power, one needs ambition and you, my dear, tried to take that away from me. You good for nothing bitch."_

_He ripped his hand from hers and watched as she slid under the water. He smiled as the plethora of bubbles that she had made overtook the water and hid her dying eyes from him. _

_Zachery took a deep breath as he picked up the syringe with a towel and completely removed his fingerprints from the murder weapon and from the tub. He dropped the syringe on the floor, allowing it to crack as it hit the tiled floor, beside the white tub. _

_He walked out of the bathroom with a large smile on his face as he walked toward the kitchen to dial for the police to help revive his girlfriend that overdosed and slipped under the water of her bath water._

_..._

Ben looked down at his cousin. He glared holes through his younger family member as he stood beside the door and allowed Craig to stew in his own worry for the moment.

Craig fiddled with his fingers as he sat at the table inside of the interrogation room. He took a deep breath and exhaled it loudly in an attempt to crack his older cousin's infectious smile.

"Are you gonna say anything," Craig asked as he knocked on the table in anxiousness.

Ben nodded and walked toward the table and asked, "Alright. What have you gotten yourself in to, Craig?"

Craig shook his head in confusion as he looked up at his cousin's angered face that was almost as red a strawberry on a hot summer day.

"Ben," Craig said in a frantic tone, "I don't know what you are talking about?"

"You broke into Salome Martin's house," Ben informed him as he placed his index finger onto the table in an effort to make his words sound more effective, "You left a death threat for God's sake, Craig!"

Craig closed his eyes as his cousin's words sunk into his brain. He felt his lip tremble as the fear of the undercurrent came over him and threatened to drown him.

"I didn't do that Ben. You know me," he pleaded as he looked up to Ben, "I couldn't even shoot my own dog. You had to come over and shoot him for me."

Ben watched as tears form in Craig's eyes. He felt a tiny pang of regret feel his insides, but he knew that his cousin was involved in some way.

"And I stopped prowling outside that house when Lucas caught me," Craig added. He shook his head and added, "You've got to believe me Ben."

"I've tried son," Ben announced in aggravation, "I've really tried. I've tried trusting you, but I just can't do it anymore," he shook his head at his younger cousin, "You put a knife in through a doll's head."

"I didn't do it," Craig screamed as he jumped out of his chair in anger, "I didn't do it. When you get those fucking prints back-"

"I have a gut feelin' that they are gonna be yours," Ben argued as he threw his hands in the air.

"Grandmomma ain't gonna like how you treat your own kin," Craig informed Ben casually as a small smile tugged at his lips.

Ben chuckled at his cousin's words and shook his head once again. His patience for his cousin was diminishing quickly as each moment passed between the two.

"The way I treat family," Ben asked in mock amusement as he pointed at himself, "How 'bout how you treat us," he pointed to Craig, "Your poor momma has to borrow money from me just to feed your sorry butt."

Craig's head lifted quickly at the words that just escaped his cousin. Surprise filled his eyes. He had no knowledge that his mother was strapped for cash. He'd never intended to have that happen to his momma.

"What?"

A knock came to the door just as Ben was about to explain his aunt's financial situation to her ungrateful son. Ben turned and watched as Lucas popped his head inside the smile interrogation room.

"Sorry to interrupt this little," Lucas said with a smile, "ugh family drama," he looked over to Craig and opened the door wide, "But he's free to go."

"What," Ben and Craig asked simultaneously as they looked at the sheriff in confusion.

"Prints didn't match," Lucas said casually as he held the door open for Craig to leave, "Now get out before I change my mind."

Craig hurried out of the small interrogation room, leaving Lucas and Ben alone. Lucas smirked at his deputy.

"What," Ben asked.

"You," Lucas admitted, "Tough love can go a long way."

"I guess," Ben said as he scratched the back of his neck, "I still feel a little guilty about it. He is my family and all."

"Don't let it bother you," Lucas informed him as he turned away from Ben and walked out the door.

"Oh," he added with a smile, "Can you man the fort 'til I get back?"

"Sure Lucas," Ben answered with a shrug of his shoulders. He had manned the fort plenty of times, "Where are you going?"

"To find Sally May."

"Floyd just left from her office," Ben stated, "He said she left there about an hour ago. Hasn't seen her since."

"I'll find her," Lucas said with pride, "I have a good idea on where she is hidin' out."

...

Salome's dark curled hair blew in the air as she stood on the hard surface of the bank of the Trinity River. The smell of mud and fresh air wafted around her as she looked down at the worn material in her hand.

"Idiot," she whispered to herself as she clutched the worn out dog collar in her hand. She had to say that she was pleased with his work, and what he had done would give the young a brash message. Blood stained the yellow material of the collar as she looked it over. It was a simple fact that bloodshed could send a message, but there was always a chance of retaliation from the young couple.

She tossed the collar into the river and smiled as it hit the water with a light splash. She watched with detached interest as the current pulled the collar away from her and further down river.

Salome sighed as she watched a thick yet frayed rope swing in the summer breeze over the murky water of the river. She could hear the laughter of children and the splash that followed so many summers ago when she was young and free.

This had been her childhood haunt. When it seemed the world was closing in on her or the rage was too much to handle, she would come to this little swimming hole and watch the sun sink into the horizon. She closed her eyes and smiled as she reminisced on her almost forgotten childhood.

"I thought I'd find you here," the familiar Southern accented voice ripped through the summer wind destroying her memories.

She kept her eyes closed but let a smile escape her. Lucas Buck, sheriff of Trinity, always knew where to find her. It brought her comfort that, no matter what happened between the two, he was in her corner.

"When I dream of home, this is where I always find myself. It always begins here," she confided in a whisper as the summer wind blew between them, the fragrant aroma of jasmines wafted in the wind.

"Hmm," Lucas announced as he watched a perch jump out of the water, causing a small splash, in the exact place where Salome had thrown the bloodied dog collar.

"Trinity is beautiful," she said with a smile as she turned to peer at him, "When I was in Charleston, I'd dream of life back here…I'd dream of you too."

"That's mighty nice of you Sally May."

She smiled as she watched him walk slowly toward her. He walked with his ever present gait of superiority. She could smell the small hint of cologne on his neck as he stood beside her. She watched as he leaned over and picked a few small pebbles from the hard ground and skipped them across the water.

Salome watched in slight amusement as the rocks skidded across the water as he expertly threw pebble after pebble.

"I was always jealous of you, Lucas," she confided with a large smile, "I never got the tactic of skipping stones."

She looked to him with soft eyes. Lucas watched as her lips quivered in an attempt to keep the sadness that hid deep within her inside.

"Why didn't you kill me, Lucas," she asked. She watched as he looked down, obviously caught off guard from her question.

"Because I love you, Salome."

She rolled her eyes and said in an angered tone, "You're a liar, Lucas Buck."

"That ain't my style Sally May," Lucas replied casually as he looked down at the disheartened attorney. He could see the worry for her comatose husband in her eyes.

"Then what is your style," she growled in anger.

"To take care of my own," he said in a matter of fact manner and shrugged his shoulders, "That's my style."

She looked away from him and closed her eyes as tears threated to escape. A burning sob erupted through her body as it pushed itself up from her chest and into her throat. She quickly placed her hand over her mouth as the sob escaped her and hot tears fell from her eyes.

"I don't want to lose him! I love him Lucas," she cried.

Lucas chuckled at her emotional outburst.

"Being in love is equal to eating a Hershey bar," Lucas informed her in a cold, detached tone, "I could never see myself in what you call love."

She shook her head as sadness was quickly taken over by an uncontrollable, yet familiar, rage. She balled her hands into fists and charged toward him.

Lucas stood tall as she banged with an emotional fervor on his chest. The hard metal of her rings tore into his skin with each hit she made.

"I can't deal with this rage anymore," she screamed as Lucas grabbed her wrists and squeezed tightly. He calmly said her name over in over in an attempt to settle her down. He had done the exact same thing to calm her down when she first broke down over the soul eating rage that lived within her.

"Sally May," he whispered, "Calm down."

"No," she screamed as her tear filled eyes looked up at him, "I'm not as strong as you Lucas! I can't keep this rage under control without him! I can't be without him, Lucas!"

"I know you can't," Lucas whispered as he looked down at Salome. Her eye liner seemed to bleed down her cheeks with each tear that fell from her eyes.

Salome pulled away from him and quickly wiped the remaining tears away. She shook her head in embarrassment and let a quick chuckle escape her as she looked out at the soft, running river.

"Will you protect me," she asked as she looked over to him with nothing but serious intentions in her eyes.

"Help with what?"

"Will you protect me when I decide to exact my pound of flesh," she asked as she glared into his dark eyes.

Lucas smiled at her and asked, "Are you askin' for a deal Sally May?"

"No," she answered in a cold tone, "I'm asking my big brother to protect his little sister."

...

Abby walked out of the small grocery store carrying two large brown bags filled with various life necessities, like two large boxes of chocolate and strawberry ice cream and a large bag of Skittles along with a bag of oranges and apples.

Craig had phoned her earlier in the day that Zachery Wallace would meet her in this small parking lot just before sunset.

She looked toward the horizon where the sun was just setting below the tree line. She looked around her to see that the parking lot was virtually empty. A loud thunder clacked somewhere in the distance from where she stood by her small car.

Abby looked up at the sky as large black clouds moved in an almost supernatural way over the pink and purple dusky sky causing the parking lot to be thrown into a surreal darkness.

She felt a cold chill move up and down her spine as she dug for her keys to open the trunk of her car to rid herself of the burden of the large grocery bags.

"Here," a familiar voice rang out, "Let me help you with that."

She turned to see the handsome yet sociopathic lawyer standing behind her. She had known what he had done to his ex-girlfriend, but she had decided to talk with him alone. She knew that if there was an award for stupidest person of the year that it would undoubtedly go to her.

"Mr. Wallace," she announced in slight shock as he took the heavy bags from her and held them as she opened the trunk of the car.

"I didn't think that you'd show up," she admitted with a slight smile as she watched him push the brown paper bags gently to the back.

He smiled at her and closed the trunk. He watched with a curious glint in his eyes as she jumped slightly at the sound the trunk made as it closed.

"I can't miss a chance to bring the sheriff and that bitch down," Zachery whispered as he looked around him, worry quickly filling his eyes at the thought of someone over hearing this particular conversation.

"I have to be sure that you will keep this quiet," he added as he touched his newly growing stubble in apprehension, "If it gets back to me and you don't succeed-"

"I won't mention your name," she replied with a reassuring smile.

"I could lose my license," he admitted, "Salome could find a way to have me disbarred. I am risking my livelihood here, Ms. White."

"You have my word that I will stop her and Lucas Buck," she insisted as she looked at his worry stricken face. She watched as his eyes dodged back in forth, in an attempt to make sure that no one was spying on them.

"I know things about Salome Martin and Lucas Buck," he stated in a hushed tone, "Personal things about them."

"Tell me," she whispered as the excitement bubbled inside of her.

"But all investigations and inquiries about me stop right here and right now," Zachery demanded quickly and looked into her eyes.

"Deal," Abby said with a nod of her head. Her eyes glittered as she thought about the Pulitzer that she would win at the end of the year.

"I can give you everything you need on Salome and Lucas," he teased once again, a smile tugged at his lips as he looked into her sparkling eyes. She was too easy. She was exactly the type of dumb broad that walked down a dangerous street in the middle of the night in a mini skirt and expected to return home without any sort of harassment.

It amazed him at how stupid some women could be…just like his ex-girlfriend was stupid.

"Then give," she demanded.

"I know Salome's maiden name," he informed her with a smile.

"What," Abby asked, "Everyone in town is tight lipped about it. I can't even find her birth certificate."

"And they'll never say anything," Zachery informed her, "And you won't ever get that piece of paper. You know why? Hmm?"

Abby watched as he bounced on his heels as he waited for her to answer.

"No," she answered, "Why?"

"Because Salome and Lucas have this town under their thumbs," he revealed with a shrug of his shoulder as if it was a casual conversation, "They own this place. This town is home to all things evil."

She chuckled at his choice of words.

"Are you kidding me? There aren't any demons roaming the Carolinas," she informed him as she giggled. She ignored the seriousness that stitched across his handsome face.

"You can't ignore it," he informed her.

She shook her head at him, "You really are a crazy, aren't you Mr. Wallace?"

"Evil has a grip in this town," he informed her as he watched her turn from him, "You will soon see."

"Right," she announced as she unlocked her door and opened it.

"Her name is Salome Buck," Zachery confessed quickly.

"What?"

Abby looked at him in cold curiosity. Something about the confession caused her stomach to drop to the floor. Something about Salome being connected to the sheriff by blood frightened her for reasons yet to be known by her.

"They're family," she asked.

"They're the Buck siblings of Trinity, South Carolina."

...

Mary walked into her dark apartment with a loud sigh. It had been a long day for her as she tried to dodge the husky voiced Selena all day. She threw her bag of ungraded papers to the floor beside the forgotten shoes in the corner of the room.

The room was dark and awkwardly silent.

Silence was an odd thing to be had in this apartment. Carrie had always barked with joy when she returned home. Usually she had to struggle to not step on the little dog as she walked into the door. She quickly turned on the lights and called for the small dog, but there was no reply from the pet.

Mary walked into the small kitchenette and saw no sign of Carrie.

"Carrie," she called as she looked around the small apartment.

A noise echoed from her bedroom and she smiled at the thought of little Carrie getting locked into the bedroom. She walked toward the bedroom and opened the door.

Nothing.

Nothing was in the darkened bedroom.

"Come on sweetie," Mary begged as she walked toward the small bathroom and turned the light on. Carrie was not in the bathroom. She shook her head as she walked toward the bedside and turned on the covered lamp.

An owl hooted in the distance as the wind blew the cloth curtains inward. Mary's brow creased as she looked at the opened window.

"What the hell," she hissed and beckoned her lead feet forward to the window. She had enough of this town's homophobic rednecks.

As she walked by the bed, she slipped in a thick warm substance on the floor. She looked down as the caught her balance to see a small lake of blood flowing from under the bed. A scream escaped her as her bare feet became stained with the warm blood.

Mary fell to her knees and forced herself to look under the bed.

Carrie's cold dead eyes looked back at her from under the bed. The dog whined one last time as the last drop of blood escaped the deep gash on its throat.

She forced herself from the floor as hot tears fell from her eyes. She turned to run toward the kitchen to call the local police of this atrocity but something caught her attention. Something sparkled on her personal pillow.

A syringe filled with one of her favorite euphoric drugs sat innocently on her pillow, tempting her with its promise to take all the pain away and replace it with pure euphoria.

She watched as her shaky hands reached out to the syringe against her will. She closed her eyes as her soft fingers grasped the cold glass of the syringe.

"_Do it," _the persistent voice inside of her demanded.

* * *

**To my anon reviewer, I put the little song lyrics at the top just cus. They kind of have something to do with what is going on in the chapter or in the near future for this story.**

**I have a playlist of songs dedicated to this story. :)**

**Reviews are always great! **


	9. Up in Flames

**Chapter 9: Up in Flames**

"_You've got bones in your closet, you got ghosts in your town. Ain't no doubt that they're gonna come out, they're waitin' for the sun to go down"-Little Big Town_

Ben Healy sat alone in his kitchen. His hands rested upon the hard marble of his kitchen counter. He took a deep breath as he looked out the window as the morning fog slowly moved as if it were a living being across the dead grass of his shaggy lawn.

The television echoed in the background. He could hear the news reporter from where he stood.

"Local Ku Klux member was sent to the hospital tonight after an apparent assault last night," the reporter announced from the television.

Ben shook his head. He had been there. There was an assault. Jim Bowman had three of his fingers cut off by Robert Swanson, a local black man. It had been a real bloody mess when he had gotten there. Jim Bowman had cried like a small child as he watched his fingers being placed into a small bucket of ice.

"Sources say that charges have been filed," the reporter stated.

Ben chuckled and shook his head as he said to himself, "Salome is going to have a field day with that one."

Talking to himself had become commonplace for him ever since his wife left him. He looked down at his dirty dishes and shook his head. He wished he had a girlfriend, or hell to even have his wife back. The single life wasn't something that he enjoyed too much.

"Death," he heard a hoarse whisper from behind him.

"Merlie," he asked as he turned quickly expecting to see the spirit of Merlie-Ann Temple. What he saw was completely different.

A bloody Native American woman stood in the corner of his kitchen. Her eyes glared at him. He watched as flames burned inside of her eyes. Ben shook his head as the woman opened her mouth to speak but only blood fell from her toothless mouth.

"Evil," the woman hissed angrily.

Ben closed his eyes and placed his hands over his ears. He tightened his closed eyes and willed the apparition away. He had had enough of ghosts to last him a lifetime. He was tired of being haunted.

"I ain't got time for yal," he snapped in anger.

He opened his eyes and removed his hands from his ears and watched as the bloody apparition faded away from his sight. He shook his head and took a deep breath in order to calm his breaking nerves.

"This town is full of ghosts," he said as he looked up to the ceiling and shaking his head, "Why do you all gotta be cryptic? Why can't you all just come out and say what ya want instead of scarin' folks?"

...

_A teenaged Salome stood in front of an abandoned grave. Weeds clawed desperately up the marble of the stone and partly hid the name of her father, Christopher Buck. The wind blew her long pony tail around her as she leaned upon a shovel that she had brought with her into the grave yard. _

_A single hot tear formed in her eye as she looked down at her father's grave in bitter hatred. The cold winter wind blew through her thin flannel shirt and light blue jeans as she looked down at the unloved grave._

"_You aren't why I came here today," she informed harshly to the man that slept under the dirt, "I should throw your bones all over the Carolinas just so I can laugh in the knowledge that your rotten soul is damned to search always."_

_Salome shook her head and wiped away the angry tears as it fell down her cheek. She walked toward another grave and glared down at it._

_SALOME BUCK was engraved in beautiful cursive script upon the beautiful grey grave stone. There were no weeds growing up near this stone. It was well taken care of. The only question was why where was there a grave stone with her name on it?_

_Freshly dug up earth was under her feet as she examining it. She pondered the many reasons why there would be a grave with her name on it, but no reasonable answer came to her mind._

"_This is why I'm here," she whispered to herself as she grabbed the shovel and held it close to her. She argued inside of her mind on whether she wanted to dig into this dirt and find out what was hidden there. It could be something that she did not want to see or know about or it could be something of great importance._

_Without thinking anymore on the what ifs, she slammed the shovel into the fresh earth and dug deep into the ground. She dug until her shovel hit something hard. She looked down into the shallow hole that she had dug and shook her head at what was looking up at her. A wooden coffin with a dirtied black and white picture from her high school year book looked up at her, daring her to open the latch and see what was inside._

"_Go ahead," the voice of Lucas Buck said from behind her, "Open it."_

_She looked over her shoulder and shook her head as she took him in. He was wearing his brown police officer uniform. She rolled her eyes at her brother's presence. She had made it very clear to him that she wanted nothing to do with him and the rage that inhabited the both of them. She wanted to ignore their shared blood bond._

"_Is this some kind of sick joke," she hissed in anger as she looked back down at the coffin, "You gonna put me in the ground? Should I be thanking you for the beautiful headstone?"_

"_Open it," he demanded with a small smile forming on his lips as he walked to stand behind her as she knelt down and quickly forced the lid open only to be greeted with a large amount of bills laying inside of the coffin._

"_What is this," she asked in confusion as she looked at the large sum of cash just laying there. She touched the money lightly as if it were some sort of wild animal. She had known that Lucas had money but she had never actually seen it before._

"_That is $68,000," he answered as he looked down at his little sister, "It's all yours. A graduation present."_

"_What," she asked as she looked up at him quickly._

"_I'm gonna be in your future whether you like it or not," he stated in a matter of fact tone as he leaned over and picked up a handful of cash and smelled it as if it were a beautiful spring flower that had just bloomed, "I may need a good lawyer one day, Sally May."_

_Her jaw dropped at her brother's kindness. She had been so ugly to him in the previous years. She could hardly believe that he was giving her all this money just for her to go to school in Charleston._

"_Why," she asked in disbelief._

"_Because contrary to what you believe," he said as he looked into her eyes, "I do love you, Sally May."_

_She looked at him as curiosity came over her. Her eyes twinkled as she became overwhelmed with what her older brother had just confessed to her. She knew, deep inside, that he did love her. He had to. He had saved her when he could have very easily allowed her to die._

"_So you'd just help," she asked as her eyes twinkled with a mixture of deep emotions, "After how horrible I've been to you?"_

_He chuckled at her and handed her the handful of cash. She took it and looked down at her hand. Her new tattoo flashed up at her, reminding her of just how much power that she and Lucas possessed inside of them._

"_Growing up, Salome, is like groping in the dark," Lucas revealed with a small smile, "Sometimes you need a little help."_

_She looked away from him quickly. She had no idea what to say to him. She had never been driven to being speechless, but somehow Lucas Buck had done it. It was not a lie when she said that he was stronger than her. He had the ability to affect everyone and not be affected, she had the ability to affect everyone but she could be affected as well._

_She listened as he turned from her and started to walk silently away from her. She closed her eyes and dropped the cash into the coffin. She turned quickly as a harsh cold wind blew between the two of them causing the fallen leaves to rustle around them._

"_Thank you," she said as she ran after him. She stopped in front of him and watched as he turned around to face her with a mischievous grin on his features._

"_You ain't gotta thank me for the-"_

"_No," she stated as she stepped forward and looked up into his eyes. She shook her head as she bit at her bottom lip nervously, "Thank you for saving me from Daddy. For letting me exist. You could have had it all for yourself, but instead you decided to share. Thank you Lucas," she nodded as she bit back tears, "Thank you for sharing with me."_

_..._

Mary's body shook in nervousness as she walked toward the door of the principal's office. She felt as if she were a small child that had gotten sent to the principal for being cranky and refusing to do her work. Her hands shook as she pushed the door open and apprehensiveness over took her as she looked at Superintendent Chalmers, Selena, and Principal Jon McKay looked at her with cold indifference in their eyes.

She forced her feet forward and smiled at her bosses as she stood in front of the desk.

"What can I help you with," she asked as she looked at the two men and to Selena who stood in the corner with a proud smile upon her face.

"Uhm, Ms. Murphy," Jon said with his own apprehension in his voice, "We've decided to rearrange our classes."

She smiled and exhaled the breath that she had been holding in since she had gotten the call to come to the office during her conference period.

"Oh thank God," she announced with a growing smile, "I thought I was being fired."

Selena smiled and said in her husky voice, "I, for one, and all for the new changes. I think that it will benefit the children's education greatly."

Mary forced a smile on her face as she looked over to the vile teacher. She wanted to just tear the backstabbing slut into pieces for what she had done to her earlier in the semester.

"Well, let me hear it," Mary said enthusiastically, relieved that she still had her job.

"We've decided that splitting the children up by learning capabilities at such a young age is not very good for the development, ya know, their self-esteem," Chalmers stated in a very formal business tone, "So we are going back to the way things were."

"The way things were," she asked in confusion. Her heart beat as she waited for the reply. Her future depended on this answer.

"Yes," Chalmers answered, "with Ms. Coombs teaching the 5th grade."

"So I'm being moved to a-"

"Oh, I'm so sorry sweetie," Selena interrupted in mock sadness, "But they've decided that I am better qualified to teach these children. It takes a certain kind of person to teach small town children."

Mary felt her heart drop into her stomach as her world was taken from her. She was jobless now. She felt as if she was the most worthless person in the entire world at that moment.

"Selena," Chalmers chided quickly. Selena smiled as she looked at Mary's paling face.

"Well looks like you all don't need me anymore," Selena announced as she waved at the principal and walked out of the office, leaving Mary alone with her bosses.

"We're very sorry but," Jon tried to explain, but Mary raised her hand up at him to stop him from saying another word.

"You've said enough," she stated as she shook her head and bit back the hot tears that formed in her eyes.

She turned quickly and walked out of the office and back to her classroom. She sighed as she looked around her small classroom that she had decorated the day before the first day of school. This had become her home away from home. She loved her students and now it was all taken away from her.

"Fuck," she whispered in anger as she threw her few personal items into a small cardboard box. Her hidden picture of her girlfriend fell to the floor as she picked up the box and walked toward the door to leave.

"You need some help," Selena asked as she picked the picture off of the ground and looked at the photograph of Abigail White. She smiled as she took in the woman's eyes and short hair.

"She's pretty," Selena admitted as she handed the photograph. "Do you need some help? I can help you if ya want."

Mary felt rage bubbling inside of her as she looked into Selena's brown eyes.

"Go fuck yourself you white trash fuck twat," Mary hissed and instantly felt the anger escaping her. She moved passed Selena and quickly made her way out of the small school and toward her car.

She threw the box into her back seat and then threw her purse into the front passenger seat of her car. She hurriedly jumped into her car and shut the door and started the car.

She screamed as worry, betrayal, and anger came over her. Tears fell from her eyes as self-hatred bombarded her as if declaring war on her self-esteem. She banged her fists against the steering wheel as sobs escaped her.

"Fuck," she cried as she thought of Abigail.

She had tried to be there for Abby, but Abby had become emotionally distant in the last few weeks as she dug herself deeper and deeper into the story. Abby hadn't even cared about Carrie's death! Abby had said that she was overreacting to the death of an animal, but Carrie had become like a child to them.

A glint from the sun came from the passenger seat and hit her eye. She turned quickly to see the syringe full of euphoria staring at her, begging her to take it. It begged for her to experience true euphoria once again.

It promised to take away all of these pains, all of the self-hatred. It was there for her.

...

Craig Healy walked into the empty hall of the school from the gym where he had been taking the remaining shots for the yearbook. The high school basketball game had ended an hour ago and he was just finishing up on taking pictures of the decorations that the cheerleaders had made. The old air conditioner bumped through the school's hallway as it turned on. The lights flickered slightly and reflected off the newly waxed tiled floor. Pictures and trophy cases lined the hall that he was standing in.

As he fiddled with his camera, he heard the sound of footsteps coming from behind him. He turned quickly to see a dark figure standing in the darkness, just where the lights decided to not come on as if they were in collaboration with the shadowy figure.

He felt a sense of foreboding come over him as he looked at the tall dark figure.

"Hello," Craig asked as he placed his feet in a readied position in case he had to make a run for it, "Can I help you?"

There was no answer from the figure in the dark hallway.

He felt his feet move forward on their own accord. The feeling of foreboding came over him in greater waves and he stopped quickly.

"Buddy," he stated as he looked at the dark figure.

His eyes widened as he watched the large floor tiles levitate in the air as if by magic. The overhead lights flickered on and off as he watched the tiles move through the air with a dramatic speed towards him.

"Shit," he hissed as he rushed forward with the tiles following close behind him. He turned on a dime and listened as the tiles hit the wall with a very loud bang.

Craig hurried out of the school and through the parking lot to his old beat up car. His heart beat with a ferocity that could only be compared to the beating of a wild stallion. He had never been so afraid in his life than he had been alone in that hallway.

He took a deep breath to calm his beating heart and broken nerves and threw his bag and camera into the passenger seat. He started the car and sighed. A smile came over his face at how lucky he had been that he had survived such a strange encounter.

He had learned long ago that strange things always happened in Trinity and it was best not to question them…but that's what he was what he was doing. He was helping a reporter question the goings on in Trinity, South Carolina.

He was lucky that there wasn't a bomb strapped to the undercarriage of his car. He was lucky that his momma's house hadn't been burned down yet or that she hadn't mysteriously died. He was very lucky.

He pulled onto the highway as his nerves finally calmed down. He fiddled with the radio and smiled as one of his favorite songs played on the radio. He tapped on to the steering wheel and bobbed his head as Creedence Clearwater Revival's Bad Moon Rising played in his car.

"Hello Craig," a feminine voice announced from the back seat of his car.

Craig jumped and caused the car to swerve violently as he looked at Salome Martin's reflection in the small overhead mirror that he had duct taped on. He righted his car and watched as the female attorney examined her sharp painted nails in boredom.

"How the hell did you get in here," he asked as he caught his breath for what seemed like the hundredth time.

"Faith," she answered casually as a smile grew upon her sharp features, "So our little reporter still hasn't left?"

"Mrs. Martin-"

"How's your momma," she asked with a smile, "She like the check I gave her for that little patch of land out by the river where you and Bobby Joe used to smoke pot together?"

He had made a deal with the devil and he had to pay for it. He had asked Salome if she would by the land that his mother had been so desperately trying to sell to pay off the house and to pay the rest of his father's burial fees. He had to repay her by betraying Abby.

Lucas Buck frightened him, but Salome Martin was the darkness that would eventually drown him. His heart beat as if he had just run five miles straight without stopping. He felt like he would die from those piercing eyes of hers.

"She's the only one that hasn't left," he answered obediently.

She smiled at him and asked, "How is life? Good," she didn't wait for an answer, "Good. Now tell me what Abigail White knows."

"She doesn't know a lot," Craig answered honestly, "But she's learning more and more every day."

Salome smiled at his answer and chuckled. Craig felt a cold otherworldly shiver move up and down his spine as he watched her move a stray strand of hair from her eyes allowing the tattoo of the All Seeing Eye to be seen.

"You really did dig your grave on this one," she informed him with a smile as she looked out the tinted windows of his mother's old car, "Don't let that conscience eat you up too much. You Healy men all have that conscience thing in common. Just squish the little cricket, that's how I'd take care of it."

"Look Mrs. Martin, I can't help you anymore," he confided, "She's on pursuit of the truth. I tried tellin' her that we went too deep on this."

"Don't worry Craig," Salome said with an amused smile, "I'm not mad. I just wanted to thank you personally for finally seeing the light."

He breathed a sigh of relief as he felt the anxiety being lifted off of his chest. He had worried that she would be angry with him.

"I also got this for you," Craig stated as he searched through his bag, "Zack told me that if I wanted to keep my fingers that I needed to do this for him."

She smiled as he handed her a manila folder full of police reports, psychiatric notes, and photos of a grizzly scene. She chuckled as she flipped through the ghastly, bloody photographs.

"Ha ha," she said in delight as she pulled a photograph of a young Abigail White and examined it with bright eyes. She peered over to Craig who was looking at her through the rear view mirror.

"As always," she announced as she placed the photo back into its place within the file, "your payment will go into your account."

"I don't understand why-"

"This is Southern politics honey," she announced as she looked out the window into the darkness that surrounded them, "It's best you don't ask questions."

He nodded at her answer and took a deep breath. She had reassured him that she was not angry but he felt a new sense of foreboding come over him.

"Drop me off at my office," she demanded with a sweet smile as she looked back at him to see how pale he had become, "I'll be talkin' to your parole officer soon, Mr. Healy. I'll speak highly of how you have been so cooperative with me. I may even speak with the judge."

He inwardly scowled at the fact that she had brought up how he had needed her a few years before when he had broken into the feed store. He nodded as he pulled over to the side of the road in front of the law office and waited as she opened the back door and stood on the sidewalk, fixing her blouse. She smiled at him and looked into his eyes.

"You have a good night now Craig," she stated sweetly as she turned on her heels and allowed him to creep away.

He floored the gas as he tried to put as much distance between him and the senator's wife. He took a deep breath as he came upon the long stretch of road that led to his home. He had survived whatever mind trick Salome Martin was trying to play with him.

He shook his head as a new sense of urgency flowed through his veins and beat within his heart. He wanted to leave. He wanted to leave Trinity. It seemed so easy to just leave. He could do it. He would do it.

Craig put the gas pedal to the floor and sped passed his mother's home and toward the city limit sign. There was only two ways out of Trinity and that was either going North or going South. He had chosen to go South.

He sighed as he came to the bridge that led away from his home. He stopped in the middle of the road and took a deep breath as thought entered his mind on whether he should leave town or not.

Could he leave his mother alone in Trinity?

Salome had ensured him financial stability now that he had betrayed Abby for a few thousand dollars.

He made his decision and slowly moved forward over the bridge, leaving his past behind once and for all.

As his car moved toward the bridge a loud siren came from behind him and flashing bright lights signaled for him to pull over. He could see his cousin sitting in the passenger side of the patrol car alongside Lucas Buck.

The town had refused to let him leave.

...

Mary sat alone in her bathtub covered in bubbles. Abby had yet to come home like she had promised that morning. She had become used to being neglected, but this was too much. She had lost her job and needed someone to talk to.

Tears ran down her cheeks and fell down her throat and met up with the bubbles that floated on top of the scalding water. It felt as if the whole world was falling in on her and the only person that she had to talk to hadn't even bothered to call her to tell her that she was coming home.

Abigail no longer cared about her.

She was unloved once again.

Mary turned her attentions on to the beautiful syringe sitting upon the toilet seat just within reach of her. She felt it begging for her to embrace it.

Her hands trembled as she obeyed the object's pleas. She wanted to feel that euphoria that it promised her, the euphoria that she had tried so desperately to escape once before. She quickly uncapped it and placed it over her arm.

She sobbed as the sharp metal needle pierced through the paper thin skin of her arm and injected the drug into her body. She took a deep breath as a warming sensation filled her as the euphoria took over her and warmed her thin body. She smiled as a feeling of peace and love came over her body, but it was only momentarily.

Mary hissed as the euphoria quickly disappeared and was quickly replaced by an intense burning sensation that coursed through her veins and into her heart. She screamed in pain as the altered drug coursed through her body.

She forced herself to reach for the cordless phone upon the toilet seat with the last ounce of strength that she had as the drug continued burning her body like a wild fire burning through a forest in the hot summer. She dialed 911 and felt relief come over her when she heard someone's voice.

"911, what's your emergency?"

She screamed in pain as the drug coursed through her causing black and red spots to come over her body. She felt her heart beating as if it were running a marathon. She felt as if her heart would burst from the strength of this drug.

The pain became so unbearable that she lost all ability to keep herself awake. She passed out with half of her body handing out of the tub with the phone laying on the ground, the operator was begging for a reply from her. Her hair touched lightly on the tiled floor as the empty syringe rolled under the tub as if it were running from the scene of the crime.

Salome smiled as she placed her feet upon her desk as she listened to her new client. She looked down at his file and chuckled as she looked down at the grotesque photographs from the scene of the crime.

"You really did a number on him, Mr. Swanson," she stated with a proud smile, "What did you use?"

"Well I used my daddy's book makin' tools. I did just what you-"

Salome's closed office door opened with a loud bang and revealed Abigail White standing in the door frame glaring knives into the young lawyer. Salome smiled as she took in the angry woman's stance.

"Hello Ms. White," Salome announced in the kindest voice that she could muster up, "I'm with a client right now…I don't think it would be too troublesome if you'd take a seat and wait."

"We need to talk," Abby informed her in a harsh tone as she glared into Salome's darkened eyes, "Now."

Salome smiled as she pulled her feet off of the desk and waved toward her client that sat in the chair in front of her desk.

"Meet Mr. Robert Swanson," she said with a smile, "He took care of your Jim Bowman, the man that is responsible for your broken window."

"How'd you know about that," Abby asked.

Robert and Salome chuckled together. Abby watched as the two shared a secretive glance.

"Mrs. Martin knows everything 'bout everyone," Robert stated with a smile as Abby watched Salome raise her hand to move a stray piece of hair from her face and deliberately allowing them to see the tattoo of the eye upon her wrist.

"Mr. Swanson is my new client," she informed Abby with a smile, "Why don't you ask what he did to have the privilege of being my favorite client."

Abby watched as an amused grin painted Salome's features as she looked at the black man in front of her.

"What," Abby asked as she looked at the old man.

"My daddy was a carpenter," Robert stated as he leaned back in the chair, "Built some book cases for Lucas Buck a few years back. They were the most beautiful book cases that I ever saw. This other man, Mr. Jim Bowman, came around askin' if my daddy could make him some that were far more beautiful than Sheriff Buck's."

Abby watched as Salome smiled brightly as if she had just heard the best joke of all time. Abby felt a cold chill move through her back as she watched the man take a deep breath.

"When my daddy went over to his house, he had a surprise waitin' there for him," Robert said in anger as he recalled the memory as if it had happened yesterday, "When he got out of his car there were six Klan members all covered in white sheets waitin' for him," he paused as anger momentarily passed through his eyes, "They hung him up in the tree. They said he had looked at a white woman wrong."

Salome chuckled and added, "He cut Jim's fingers off with his daddy's own book making' tools. Kind of…poetic, if you'd ask me."

Robert nodded and added, "I waited for six years to catch him off guard. There wasn't ever any evidence to send him to jail. When I got there he asked what I was doin' and I said I wasn't makin' no book cases."

Abby turned to Salome and glared at her.

"Are you taking this case for publicity," Abby asked harshly.

Salome shook her head and replied in a matter of fact tone, "I care about my people, Ms. White. Maybe you should start learnin' to care about the people that you love."

Salome quickly moved her attentions back to her client and smiled at him as she closed his case file.

"Come by tomorrow," she informed him and watched as he thanked her and walked out. She looked at Abby and smiled at her with a knowing grin.

"Please take a seat," Salome demanded with a smile as she waved to the empty chairs in front of her desk.

"What's your deal," Abby asked as she took her seat in front of the desk. Her eyes bore into Salome's own eyes, daring her to speak the truth.

"You are becoming obsessed with Ms. White," Salome informed her as she leaned back into her chair, "Careful," she warned, "Obsession, they say, is the first step in possession."

"You got a man off for shooting a postman," she informed, referring to an old case that Salome had tried before she had married Albert Martin, "How?"

"He got shot in the leg," Salome answered simply, "It's not like he died or was a vegetable."

"And you're okay with that?"

Salome smiled brightly at the question and replied, "My bank account was. And Trinity enjoys the newly paved road that my client helped finish as part of his community service that he received," she paused, "Now, I'll ask again Ms. White, what can I do for you today?"

"You told me on the first day I met you that I needed to leave Trinity," Abby answered, "Why?"

Salome's eyes sparkled at Abby's question. A knowing smile formed across her pink lips as she said, "People…and animals…aren't safe here. As you have seen for yourself."

Rage surged through Abby's veins at Salome's joke toward her dog.

"You son of a-"

"Ah ah," Salome warned as she wagged her finger at the young reporter, "Not nice. Not nice at all."

"You are sick," Abby stated harshly.

"I didn't do anything," Salome informed her, "Don't lay your problems at my feet. I'm aware of the plight that homosexuals face every day, but don't go blamin' me for someone else's close mindedness. If I supported the Klan and their backwoods ideas, I'd be representing them and not the man that cut off their dragon's fingers."

Abby shook her head in anger and replied, "That doesn't-"

"And for future reference," Salome interrupted quickly, "I'm not a fan of unwarranted accusations. I've been hearing too many of them in the last couple of weeks. You vultures are trying to pin what happened on my husband on me…and you…well you are trying to pin every vile thing that has happened to you on me."

"Then who killed my dog," Abby asked, "Was it the sheriff? You two own this town. Kind of funny that it is the world's best kept secret that you two are related."

"It's not a secret," Salome informed her as she looked into the corner of her office to see the bloody Native American woman standing in the darkness with judgmental eyes glaring at her. She just smiled dismissively at the apparition and looked back to Abby.

"Maybe it was your past that killed your little dog," Salome suggested.

"The past can't hurt me."

Salome chuckled and replied in amusement, "Oh honey, you really don't know anything do you?"

Abby looked at the dark haired woman in confusion as she watched Salome remove herself from her rolling chair and walk toward a large file cabinet. She watched as Salome's long fingers scanned through her many manila files and quickly pulled out a large file.

"Are you aware that Craig Healy has investigated you," Salome asked as she walked back toward her desk and leaned on the wood in front of Abby, "He's had a secret file on you. On your family."

"What," she asked in surprise as she grabbed the file away from Salome's extended hand and looked at the pictures of her burned family members, "What's this?"

"This is the South, Ms. White," Salome informed her, "The past isn't dead here. It is very much alive."

Salome watched amusedly as Abby pawed through the many notes on her and her family's mysterious murder by fire. Salome turned her attentions back onto the ghost in the corner and lifted her brow at the apparition as if it was something that she was better than.

Her attentions quickly snapped back to Abby and said, "You don't want that black spot released to the public then I suggest you drop everything and get out now."

"How'd he," she started to ask and watched as a wicked smile crossed Salome's features once again.

"This is politics," Salome explained, "You think that they would just let you come in and destroy their keepers?"

"They?"

Salome smiled and pushed herself away from the desk and grabbed the file out of Abby's hand. She placed it safely back into its home with the other files that she kept over the years.

"And what if I can't leave town," Abby asked as she stood from the chair and eyed Salome with an intense worry that radiated from her.

"Don't come crying to me when things burn up around you," Salome informed her.

"I want to know the truth, Mrs. Martin," Abby said with intensity in her voice, "I can't go back empty handed."

Salome smiled and shrugged her shoulders as she replied mysteriously, "The secret history of the South is written in blood."

"I don't understand," Abby said as she shook her head and followed Salome as she walked toward her door, "Who are you?"

Salome smiled as she opened the door and Zachery walked up to them. A small smile tugged at the corner of his lips as he looked down on the two women that stood in front of him.

"Who am I Zack," she asked with a wide smile.

Abby noticed that Zachery was taken by this strange question that Salome had just asked, but she noticed the sparkle of understanding in his eyes.

"You're Salome Martin," he answered obediently.

Salome smiled in appreciation and asked, "Have you ever doubted that Zack?"

"I never dared to," he answered honestly as he allowed his gaze to fall upon the young reporter.

Salome turned her head slightly and watched as the Native American woman faded from its place in the corner of her office and she allowed a bright smile come over.

"Walk with me," she announced happily, "The both of you."

She smiled as the two followed her out of the office and toward the sidewalk. She watched as Zachery lit a cigarette and took a long drag off of it as she looked out at the trees.

"Give me a story," Abby begged as she watched Salome close her eyes and sniff the changing of the season in the air.

"You're the investigative reporter," Salome answered as she turned to look down at the woman, "Investigate."

"What did you mean by blood," Abby asked.

Salome smiled and moved to give herself some distance from the tobacco smoke that was wafting off of Zachery's cigarette.

"Family," Salome answered, "Geneo-"

A loud blast escaped from behind the three and large balls of fire lit up the night sky, painting the black sky with vibrant shades of reds and oranges. The blast from the office sent the three falling toward the concrete ground as burning boards and other debris from the explosion fell around them.

Salome felt a whirling of chants filling her mind as she looked at Abigail that lay beside her and then to the burning remnants of her office. She watched as a tribe of dancing Native Americans danced around the large fire as if they were celebrating the win of a major war.

She watched as a fuzziness came over her vision and pulled her into the dark waters of unconsciousness as if it were trying to drown her.

* * *

**Thanks for all the lovely reviews! I've worked really hard on this little story so they mean the world to me :)**

**So what is going to happen to Craig?**

**Is Mary going to die? **

**Who blew up Salome's office?**

**So many questions with this chapter! **


	10. Good Old Fashioned Villain

**Chapter 10: Good Old Fashioned Villain**

"_You'll see him in your nightmares, you'll see him in your dreams. He'll appear out of nowhere but he ain't what he seems. You'll see him in your head, on the TV screen and hey buddy, I'm warning you to turn it off. He's a ghost, he's a god, he's a man, he's a guru. You're one microscopic cog in his catastrophic plan, designed and directed by his red right hand"- Nick Cave & Bad Seeds_

Salome hurried through the busy hospital hallway. An annoying buzz filled her ears as she hurried passed the nurses that hurried on their routes to the other patients that had just arrived from injuries from the blast. She felt a dizziness come over her but she pushed it away as she forced herself forward.

"Mrs. Martin, you need to go back to your room," a young blonde nurse begged as she grabbed Salome by her shoulders to stop her from going to her intended destination.

Salome glared at her and shoved the woman's hands off of her in anger.

"You need to go back to your room," the nurse begged sweetly as she took in Salome's small cuts that lined her upper cheek and neck from where the glass had cut into her body after the explosion, "Come on, I'll help you back."

Salome grabbed the woman's arm and ripped it from her shoulder and hissed, "Get the hell off of me!"

She pushed the nurse to the side and continued on her way down the hall until she reached the room that she had been trying to get to. As she entered the room the buzzing noise in her ears escaped her and gave her to hear the extremely loud orders of the working nurses in the halls.

Salome hurried toward the bed where her husband still lay comatose. She hurriedly placed a kiss upon his cold and chapped lips as a sob escaped her as she looked down on his emotionless face.

"You really need to be in your own room, Mrs. Martin," Dr. Peele announced as he looked in on the traumatized woman.

She turned quickly and hurried toward him. She grabbed the door and glared at him as her knuckles turned white from the immense force that she was applying to the door. She wished that it could be his own head that she was grasping as she glared into his sparkling eyes that were so full of youth, a youth that she had never really experienced. Those eyes were mocking her.

"Why don't you shut your pie hole," she asked in anger as she slammed the door in a furious rage in his face.

Salome moved quickly back to her husband and sat upon the bed by his side and looked down on him. She could have died and she still had no idea on who was trying to kill her.

"That god damned squaw," Salome hissed as she looked down at Albert, "It couldn't have been her…them."

She shook her head as she placed his limp hand in her own dirtied hand. She felt tears escape her as she looked down at their hands. Their wedding rings matched up perfectly, both made of the prettiest of gold and sharpest diamonds. He had truly cared about their wedding rings and the vows that they had made together.

"I don't know what to do Albert," she whispered as she closed her eyes, "I tried so hard and got so far. Now it seems that I have to lose everything for everything to be back to normal," she raised his soft hand toward her lips and placed a soft kiss upon his hand, "I need you Albert. There's evil in this town and…and…I'm scared."

She felt another sob escape her. She had never felt so hopeless and scared before in her life. She didn't know how to stop any of this. For the first time she had no answers, she wasn't the one that could raise her hand and offer a solution.

The beeps of the machines around her took her away from her thoughts and back to the present. Salome looked at her husband and smiled as she moved a strand of his salt and pepper hair out of his eyes once again.

"I remember when we first met," she whispered with a smile as memories came running back to her.

_Salome and her young assistant, Molly James, walked hurriedly up the steps of the capitol building. Molly was hurriedly jotting down Salome Buck's demands for her current homicide case. Salome walked in a quick pace; her sharp stilettos were clacking against the concrete as she hurried toward the door. Her black skirt moved with her lean body as she moved as if the cloth was a part of her skin._

"_So you want me to get the case on Lana Winters ready," Molly asked._

_Salome rolled her eyes as she pulled her leather bag upon her shoulder as they entered the busy halls of the capitol building. She pulled her sunglasses from her face and placed them inside of her leather bag and turned to look for the office that she needed._

"_Did I not just say that," Salome asked in irritation._

"_Yes mam," Molly said as she looked toward the ground in slight shame, "So what are we doing here, Ms. Buck?"_

_Salome smiled and asked, "Do you read the papers Ms. James?"_

_Molly watched as Salome shoved the heavy newspaper into her hand. She looked down to see a picture of the current senator walking up the steps of the court house. She looked at the headline and shook her head as the words "__**SCANDAL IN SC!"**__ staring back at her in black, bold letters._

"_Senator Martin," Molly asked as she followed in Salome's retreating footsteps as she made her way down the hallway, "You are planning on helping him?"_

_Salome smiled and replied, "I'm bored."_

"_But why," Molly asked as she watched Salome turn her back on her and jiggle with the door knob of the Senator's office, "Everyone knows that he did it!"_

"_Molly," Salome announced happily as she turned on her heel and gave her assistant a bright smile, "Sweetie, don't ever question me."_

_Molly nodded and lowered her gaze from Salome's almost unnatural burning eyes that seemed as if ever hidden truth of the world was alive in those dark orbs._

"_Yes mam," she muttered as she watched Salome's eyes glitter in excitement._

"_Molly," Salome announced brightly, "You're fired."_

"_Fired," Molly asked as she looked up at her boss. She was taken aback by this new turn of events._

"_Yes," Salome answered as her brows rose, waiting to see how her young assistant would act with this crushing news that she had just perfectly delivered. She watched as the young woman bit back tears and moved slightly away from her, but did not take her leave. It seemed as if the girl was at a loss of what to do._

"_Go away Molly," Salome demanded in a singsong voice as she opened the Senator's door and walked inside, closing it back, and taking her place against the wall to wait for Albert Martin's arrival._

_Salome did not have to wait long before the door opened and Albert Martin walked into the dark office without noticing Salome standing in the dark corner with a large smile on her face. The smell of his cologne wafted through the air and made its home in her nostrils where it threatened to make Salome weak in the knees, but she held on strong as she watched him talking into the cell phone._

"_I told him that," the senator announced in anger to his lawyer on the other end of the line. "I told him that-"_

_The signal was lost as he made his way to his desk and turned on the small lamp that sat upon his desk to illuminate the room._

"_Hello," he announced into the phone and shook it for a moment in his hand, "Hello?"_

_He shook his head in irritation and said as he threw his phone upon his cluttered desk, "The devil."_

"_Oh come now," Salome announced as she pulled herself out of the dark shadows to reveal herself to the handsome, aging senator, "I'm not all that bad."_

_Albert turned quickly from where he stood and took in the dark haired woman that had an air about her that demanded respect. He couldn't help the smile that tugged at the corners of his mouth as he looked at her dark eyes._

"_I recognize you," he announced with a smile as he pointed at her as she stopped in front of him, "You're that little lawyer. You're Salome-"_

"_Buck," she said with a large grin as she watched him sit in his chair. She felt a strange attraction to this aging senator and she liked it._

"_That's Buck with a B," she added with a large grin as she looked into his wondrous eyes, "Not an F."_

_He chuckled at her flirtations as he looked into her dark eyes. He felt a strange pull inside of him, as if his breath was being sucked away from him as if a succubus had landed upon his chest and was on a mission to leave him breathless. That's how the young lawyer affected him._

"_How can I help you, Ms. Buck," he asked with southern charm poisoning each of his words as he looked at her pale skin that seemed to be reminiscent of women from a time that was gone with the wind._

"_How's the scandal," she asked with a smile, ignoring his questions completely._

_He smiled at her and replied, "They've dropped all investigations."_

"_I knew they would."_

_Albert smiled at her reply as he sized her up. She certainly looked as if she could stand her ground. He had heard of her and her father. He had heard the horrible story. He had heard about how she survived such a horrible event._

"_How," he asked simply._

_She chuckled and replied casually, "I sent a half a million dollar check in support of their foolish cause with one condition…the condition that this little mob thing gets hidden under the table. They were made aware that I have friends in all places, it didn't take very much to persuade them."_

"_Bribery," Albert asked as he raised a brow at the dark haired angel standing in front of his desk, "That's illegal. You can't do that."_

"_Of course I can! This is America," Salome hissed harshly, allowing her temper to rear its ugly head for only a moment, "It's how I rule the world."_

_He smiled at her reply and said, effectively allowing the proverbial bomb to drop, "How's your brother Sally May?"_

_Salome stopped momentarily and looked into his eyes and gave him a soft smile before she allowed her cold exterior to be put back in its proper place._

"_Still a thorn in my side," she answered in agitation. _

"_You've become more successful than your older brother," Albert informed her with a growing smile as he watched her sashay like a wild jungle cat hunting her prey toward him._

"_I don't have an Achilles' Heel," she informed him as she placed her hands upon the armrests of his chair and looked deeply into his eyes, "I am invincible. No one can stop me, I am in control."_

"_So what did you come here for? You don't need me," he asked, "It takes a lot to leave Trinity."_

_Salome chuckled as the senator talked about his home town. She placed her index finger under his chin and forced him to look at her and nowhere else._

"_You now as well as I do, Senator Martin," she stated with a wicked glint in her eyes, "That nobody chooses anything in Trinity, Trinity chooses for you. It's up to the town if you leave or not."_

"_Ahh," Albert said with the same wicked glint in his eyes, "The myth of free will."_

"_Exactly," she replied with a smile wink as she pulled slightly away from him as an overwhelming feeling washed over her like an ocean wave beating down on her on a hot summer day. _

"_So what does this have to do with-"_

"_You and I are special," she informed him, successfully cutting him off midsentence, "We are the same. Salome and Albert…it's fate."_

"_So why are you here, Sally May," he asked as he watched her push herself away from him._

"_To tell you that I owe you," she answered casually as she sashayed toward the door to leave his office just as quickly as she had appeared inside._

"_You owe me," he asked in slight confusion and then allowed a bright smile to expand over his shaved face as he said in his most Southern voice, "My, my, Ms. Buck, you are nothin' like your big brother."_

"_I'm nothing like Lucas," she informed him quickly as she stopped and turned to look at him, "We are completely different beings."_

_Salome smiled at him and turned to walk back toward the door. She opened it only to hear the senator rattling around inside of his desk and calling her name that sent an unwarranted shiver down her spine. _

"_8 o'clock," he informed her with a smile as he looked into her eyes, "Meet me at the bar."_

_She smiled at him as she watched him straighten out his black three piece suit and asked, "Are you askin' me out on a date Senator Martin?"_

"_Yes. I think I am Ms. Buck."_

"_What bar," she asked._

_Albert shrugged his shoulders at her question and chuckled as he replied, "If we meet up at the same bar tonight then we know that we are destined."_

"_Destined for what," she asked as she felt a deep red blush burning at her pale cheeks._

"_Maybe love."_

_Salome chuckled at his response and shrugged her shoulders, "I can never see myself in what everyone calls love nowadays."_

"_Neither can I," Albert replied with sparkling eyes as he looked her over once again as she turned away from him to take her leave._

"_8 it is," she answered as she opened the door and left him alone in his office for the last time. After that day he would always have company inside this office._

_..._

Abby walked through the busy hospital hall as nurses moved quickly passed her to help one of the victims of the explosion. She received no injuries from the blast; she owed it all to Salome for falling on top of her during the initial wave that had moved passed them.

"Where's Mary Murphy," she asked quickly as she pulled a blonde nurse by the elbow and jerked her from her path to face her.

"I'm sorry miss but I-"

"WHERE IS SHE?"

"She's in the cursed room," the nurse explained, "It was the only room that we had left after the explosion."

"The cursed room," Abby asked in confusion as she shook her head, "Isn't that where Caleb's mother-"

"Threw herself from the window," the nurse finished and nodded, "its right there," she pointed toward a door with chipped white paint that was closed, "I have to go help the others."

"Fine," Abby answered as she let go of the nurse's elbow and looked over to the closed door. She felt her heart beating fast. Panic filled her when she was told that Mary had been rushed into the hospital just minutes before the explosion.

She had thought that Salome or Zachery had something to do with the explosion, but why would one of them allow themselves to be harmed in the explosion? It certainly did not fit Salome Martin's or Zachery's personality that she had observed for the last few months that she had lived in Trinity, South Carolina.

She knew that there was something more powerful at play in this town. Her lover had been an unlucky victim of that power.

She hurried into the room and closed the door behind her as she announced happily as if she did not have a worry about why her lover was in the hospital, "You won't believe it Mary! Salome and the sheriff are siblings!"

Mary smiled softly as she looked out the window that was nailed shut as a precaution to keep a patient from jumping to their death from the third floor of the hospital.

"I knew you wouldn't care," Mary whispered sadly as she turned away from the shut window and looked at the ash covered reporter. She was no longer looking at her lover, she was looking at a reporter that lusted after a story like a leech lusts after fresh blood.

"What," Abby asked as she looked at the pale face of Mary. She was unaware of the shaking hands of Mary as she moved closer toward her lover.

"You had a relapse," Abby stated casually with a shrug of her shoulders and a bright smile.

Mary shook her head in anger as hot tears fell down her cheeks and ran down her long neck. She quickly wiped them away as Abby shook her head in agitation.

"Look," Abby said, "If you are looking for sympathy then you're looking at the wrong person to give it to you."

Mary felt a blind fury move through her. She balled her fists that still burned from whatever had been laced into the heroin.

"I was poisoned," Mary informed Abby in anger, "Some kind of drug was slipped into the heroin that I took."

"What," Abby asked. Her mind started racing for answers that could answer the question of who had the ability to hide a powerful drug inside of another drug.

"Do you know who did it?"

"Yeah," Mary answered loudly as she rolled her eyes in agitation and exhaustion, "The man that fixed our busted window, but according to the sheriff and his deputy there is no such person by the name of Jackson Jumper in this town! They think that I'm crazy and that I burned my veins on purpose!"

Abby shook her head as she moved toward her lover, but stopped quickly as Mary jerked away from her reach. She looked at her as a hint of resentment crossed Mary's face. She felt her heart beating quickly as Marry shook her head.

"Mary," Abby said in a soft voice, "Lucas and Salome are in on all of this. Everything that happens is because of them. They use this town-"

"This town," Mary screamed in anger, "This town!?"

Abby watched as Mary bit at her lip in an attempt to keep the anger down. In their long life together she had never witnessed Mary lose her temper like she was now.

"I'm sick of hearing you talk about this town," Mary hissed, aggravation laced her words, "about the Bucks with a B," she shook her head once again, "It's like this town has _possessed _you, Abigail!"

Abby felt a smile pulling at the corners of her lips as she recalled Salome's words on the idea of obsession and possession.

"It's what they want you to-"

"Get out," Mary demanded harshly, effectively cutting off Abby's explanation.

"What," Abby asked in confusion.

"You heard me," she answered, "I'm done with this place! I'm leaving as soon as I'm able."

"But Mary," Abby said as she looked at the harsh eyes of her once weak lover, "I love you."

"No," Mary screamed. The window in the corner of the room rattled at the intensity of her voice. Her eyes bore into the reporter's eyes.

"You love yourself," Mary informed her as she waved her hands around her in agitation, "And that's all you will ever have," she waved toward the door, "Now please, Abigail, leave."

Abby nodded as she pulled herself away from her longtime lover. She walked out of the room and closed the door behind her. She stayed in that place, contemplating the things that Mary had just revealed to her.

Mary turned quickly and jumped slightly as a bloody Native American woman stood in the corner glaring at her with black soulless eyes. The burning sensation reappeared through her body like fire consuming the thin veins throughout her body as she watched the woman smile wickedly at her.

"Death," the woman hissed and pointed toward the nailed window.

A hot wind blew across Mary's face as she looked at the window. She watched as a smoky vision of a frightened woman in a floral sun dress flung herself through the window. There was no sound, there was no shattered glass. The woman just faded away as she moved through the glass as she had done years before.

Mary took a deep breath as her feet moved against her will toward the window. She could hear the chanting and howls from the tribe waiting below her as she edged closer and closer to the window.

...

Salome placed another soft kiss upon Albert's chapped lifeless lips as a single hot tear fell from her cheek and landed upon his cheek.

"We've come so far," she whispered in his ear as she lingered above his face, "I owe you still, Albert."

"Mrs. Martin," a soft voice announced from behind her. She turned to see Floyd, one of Lucas' dimwitted officers, standing in the doorway alone with handcuffs in his hands. She moved quickly away from her husband and stood tall as she glared into his green eyes.

"What is it Floyd," she asked harshly as she wiped the remaining tears out of her eyes.

"I have to take you in," he answered sadly yet not moving from his place in the door frame. He did not dare make a sudden movement when it came to Salome Martin. She could find a way to get all of his money in some law suit. He wasn't that dumb.

"Take me in," she asked in confusion, "On whose authority?"

"For attempted murder," Floyd answered quickly.

"On whose god damned authority Floyd," she screamed as she rushed toward him as a wave of rage crashed over her that threatened to pull her under to her ultimate undoing.

"On mine," Lucas spoke up as he moved from behind Floyd and forced his little sister to turn around in one move.

She hissed in anger as he placed the cold metal handcuffs around her thin wrists as he said, "Nice tattoo Sally May."

Salome smiled as he jerked her back around to face him. She glared at the two men as she jingled the cuffs behind her back in defiance.

"Is this protecin' your own," she asked bitterly, "Puttin' them in handcuffs? People may talk that don't know the truth about us Lucas."

"Let's go Sally," Lucas announced as he pulled his sister out of her husband's room and into the busy hall were everyone stopped to watch as she was hauled out of the hospital.

"Just like old times," she said with a chuckle as they both walked out of the hospital. Her heels clicked upon the ground as he lightly pushed her forward to his blue town car.

"What," Lucas asked just as a loud clashing was heard from above them followed by the piercing scream of a passing by patient.

Salome and Lucas watched as Mary Murphy fell from her third story room and landed miraculously upon the grassy lawn instead of on the hard concrete that made up most of the surrounding area. Salome glanced upwards and smiled at Abby who was looking down at her fallen lover as doctors and nurses hurried to save Mary's slipping life. She smiled at the sparkling shards of glass that surrounded the young teacher and allowed a chuckle to escape her lips as she looked back at Lucas who was looking at her with the same knowing eyes.

"You'd think that if one would want to commit suicide that they would open the window first," Salome announced as she gave a small wink to Abby above her.

Lucas shrugged his shoulders and replied as he helped his younger sister into the backseat of his car, "Some people live off of being overly dramatic."

"You would know," Salome announced with a smile as she watched her brother close the door on her.

* * *

**Will poor Mary ever get a break?! **

**And how'd you like how Albert & Salome met? **


	11. Helter Skelter

**Chapter 11: Helter Skelter**

"_I shall lay down all of my troubles and I lift up this heart of mine" –Nathan Barr (from True Blood)_

Craig looked into the adjoining cell to see Salome glaring at him with the most intense eyes that he had ever see, almost demonic in their appearance as they glared at him. He felt the familiar feeling of foreboding come over him as he kept staring at the young lawyer that was now contained in the cell beside him.

The sounds of keys rattling, the sound of a pen hitting against the metal bars as they walked along the corridor, and the soft theme tune from The Andy Griffith Show whistled throughout the air to signal that Lucas was on the prowl and ready to take another victim. Craig felt like he was a stray dog in a pound and his time was up. Fear bubbled inside of him as he felt Salome's intense eyes upon him. Everything had an almost surreal quality as he watched Lucas unlock Salome's bars and enter into her cell with a wicked smile upon his face.

The air was thick with apprehension as he watched Salome and Lucas stand in front of each other, their eyes locked on each other like predators fighting of new territory. They seemed to be more animal like than human as he looked them at the two siblings.

"Guys," Craig asked as he stood from his place and walked to the bars, wrapping his stubby fingers around the cold bars, "Are you two okay?"

They did not answer his question and worried fueled him to desperately look for someone to save him in this precarious situation. He had heard stories from veterans of the war about combat and the ferocity that poisoned the earth; he was mentally comparing this scene that was unfurling in front of him to the horrible western fronts of Germany.

"Ben," he screamed as he looked toward the door, "Ben! Come in here! We got a problem!"

A bright light took over the small hallway and the banging of a door gave rise to the entrance of Ben Healy who hurried into the cell room as he tucked in his shirt, obvious signs that he had previously been in the restroom.

"What in the hell is goin' on back here," Ben asked as he stopped in front of Salome's cell.

"Something's wrong," Craig said, stuttering in fear as he looked at the angered siblings.

"Hello Ben," Lucas announced in his perfect Southern accent, "I'm gonna need a little help in bringin' in this wild sow."

Ben grabbed at his handcuffs and walked into the cell with his boss and Salome, completely unaware that he was walking straight into the spider's den.

Craig screamed as he watched Salome Martin shove her sharp nailed fingers violently into Ben's back, jerking upon his spine. Craig allowed tears to fall down his cheeks as he watched his cousin writhe in immense pain. He watched as blood spouted out of Ben's mouth and stained his paling lips. Salome held him tightly in place as she glared into Craig's eyes once more, delighting in the pain that reflected in his eyes.

"Sorry Ben ol' boy," Lucas announced, feigning sadness as he looked down on the dying deputy, "But you just weren't loyal enough. That conscience of yours just wouldn't get outta the way."

"Oh my God," Craig screamed in pain as he watched his cousin's eyes plead for him to help him, "What have you done?!"

"Do you accept us as the sole authority in this world," Lucas asked as he glared at the crying man, crossing his arms to patiently await his response.

Craig shook his eyes as he looked up to the sheriff, at his bloodless hands, and then to Salome who still held his dying cousin in her grasp/

"The authority belongs to God and the government," he informed them harshly, finding some hidden bravery that he had never before believed that he held within him, "Not to two psychopath hicks like you!"

"Oh, that's not nice," Salome announced as she jerked on Ben's spine. A snap filled the room and caused a wail of sadness escape Craig as he watched his cousin slowly lose control over his body.

"You're old enough to know the truth now," Salome said, eyes now burning a bright putrid green, "It's about time you've outgrown that blind allegiance to that rule of law that is the United States and the Holy Book. There is only one rule of law," she announced with urgency as she allowed Ben to fall to the ground, but keeping his bloody spine in her hands, "There is only one law, the law of nature! Survival of the fittest! And we," she pointed to herself and Lucas Buck with the spine to make her words abundantly more dangerous, "need to take this world back from the humans! Not placate them with billboards and PR campaigns while they destroy it!"

"Salome," Lucas stated in an effort to try to handle her temper that was quickly showing its ugly head.

"That is not authority," she screamed like a mad wrestler, readying for his first fight, "that is abdicating authority! Dear stupid boy, the Devil does in fact reside in Trinity, South Carolina and his minions do roam the Carolinas!"

"Senator Martin," Craig stuttered in fear as her words of PR campaigns entered his mind and swirled around like poison.

"He was in my way unfortunately," she informed him with a shrug as she threw the bloodied spine behind her back.

Craig shuttered as he watched her toss the bloodied spine behind her back, it sloshed to the floor making and ugly, disturbing noise as it hit the floor behind her.

"All of you, including my husband, are just," she closed her eyes and breathed out an entertained wisp of air, "quivering spineless souls. Lucas and I are," she chuckled as her eyes glowed violently, "Nothing like you all."

Craig jolted from his horrific nightmare. Sweat was beading down his forehead and over his nose as he found himself safely in his jail cell. He quickly looked over to the corner of his cell to see Salome sitting with her head in her hands on a wooden bench.

"Be careful," Salome announced softly as her head jolted up to glare at the young amateur photographer.

"What," he asked in complete and utter confusion. He wiped the sweat from his forehead as he looked up at her with apprehension bubbling inside of him.

"With dreams like that, dear," she chuckled as she looked to him with an amused expression upon her face, "you may inadvertently wake the dead."

"They've already been woken up."

Salome looked over to him with a questioning look upon her face. Her brows furrowed as she looked at him with suspicion as a wicked smile tugged at her lips. She opened her mouth to ask him if he had learned the secret history of the past, but was quickly stopped.

"Salome," Lucas' demanding voice billowed as he opened the cell door and walked inside to stand in front of his younger sister.

She looked up at him to see that he was holding a small piece of blackened paper in his hands. He clutched it tightly in his hand as he looked down with concern at his little sister.

"What is that," she asked as she looked into her brother's eyes.

Lucas quickly handed her the paper and then turned his attentions to Craig who was watching with slight concern painted in his eyes.

"What's wrong," Lucas asked, "Scared your nightmares may come true?"

Craig's eyes furrowed as he looked up at the sheriff of Trinity, South Carolina.

"What in the hell is this," Salome hissed as she glared down at the burned paper in her hands. The words "**HELTER SKELTER LADY BUCK! OUR TIME TO FUCK IS COMING UP!**" was glued upon the white paper; the letters cut from random magazines and newspapers.

"Flip it over," Lucas demanded of his little sister and smiled as she did as he demanded of her.

"Watch your back because I'll be putting a knife into it," she read aloud in the hand written note upon the back of the paper.

"What the hell," she hissed in anger as she crumpled the paper in her hand and threw it across the cell, "What the hell am I going to do?! Lucas, this has to stop. I can't deal with that god damned squaw cunt fucking up everything I own with Albert in the hospital, and now this! I can't do this, Lucas!"

"You've seen the Indian woman," Craig spoke up as he watched Salome run her hand through her long curly hair in despair.

Salome looked up at him and shook her head, "I can't believe this. You saw her didn't you?"

"The Indian woman," Craig replied with a nod, "Yeah I saw her a few days ago. I wasn't sure at first but now that you say-"

"Pretty ain't she," Salome asked harshly.

"What does she want," Craig asked as he looked at the young lawyer, "What does she want with you and Albert? This town?"

"Things you couldn't possibly begin to understand," Lucas informed him as he glared at him and then looked at his sister who was shaking her head in anger.

"The better question is what doesn't she want," Salome cleared.

"Then what doesn't she want?"

"A double meat cheese burger with extra cheese and hold the tomato, also super-size that Diet Coke," Salome answered with a sarcastic smirk as she glared at her older brother and then turned to Craig and added, "She wants this town's blood, Craig."

"Blood," Craig asked in confusion, "Ghosts can't kill people. They can't-"

"Merlyn-Ann Temple turned the river into blood and brought this town to its knees in a matter of days," Salome informed him, "You were there, you saw it. This little squaw has more on her mind than just spreadin' a tiny little plague."

"When did she show up," Craig asked as he looked to Salome for all the answers who was staring up at her big brother. He could see the anger that radiated off the both of them as they looked at each other.

"When you two started to hate each other huh," Craig asked, "When it became public knowledge of the hate between you two. What happened?"

Salome closed her eyes and turned away from the two men. Her back faced them as she placed her hands upon the cool bars of the cell and allowed her aching head to rest upon its cold metal embrace. Lucas looked over to his sister and then back to the inquisitive young man.

"They've always been here," Lucas answered, "That's the problem."

"You should have let me die," Salome whispered so softly that she wasn't sure that Craig heard, but she knew that Lucas heard. He always heard.

"Oh come off of that lie," Salome hissed as a new found anger filled her and she bolted toward Lucas as she began to lose her temper, "It was all a lie when Daddy said and it's no different when you say it, Lucas Buck!"

"Then what is the problem, Sally May?"

"You know that answer," she said so far under her breath that she felt like a caged jaguar warning the offending tyrant that she was about to lash out, "Our god damned family is the problem," tears filled her eyes as she looked up at her brother, "and we are burdened with the blood of this town!"

"And what do you know of that," Lucas asked harshly as he looked down at her, "Of blood?"

"Everything," she screamed as the tears fell freely from her eyes as the emotions that she had bottled up inside of her escaped her, "The evil in this town wants us, Lucas. It lusts after you and I," she waved her hands in the air as if there was no hope in life, "Albert, Caleb, our family," she shook her head and wiped the fallen tears away from her in an attempt to gain back her level head, "What they did, our family," she stopped and took a deep breath, "…we are forced to suffer their evil."

Craig looked at the two siblings. He could see the anger that radiated from the two, but he could also see the tight bond between the two that would always remain. He was seeing everything as it was as he looked at the small family. Everything was become clear.

"And up 'til now," Lucas stated lazily, "you enjoyed the power this town gave you."

"That was before I," she stated as a loud sob escaped her chest and echoed through the room, "It's not fair Lucas," she whispered as she moved closer to her brother.

"That's just how it is sweetheart," Lucas cooed, now seeing just how truly broken his sister was. Something wasn't right with her, he could tell, she was hiding some dark secret from him.

She shook her head in disagreement at her words as more tears fell from her eyes and said, "The sins of our fathers," she choked as she looked into her brother's dark, dangerous eyes, "I can't have children, Lucas."

Lucas felt his heart drop at his sister's omission as she rushed to him and threw her arms around him just as she had done when she was a scared child.

Tears fell from Salome's eyes as she held onto her brother tightly, taking comfort in the warmth that he had provided her as he wrapped his own arms around her. Emotions flooded over her as he rocked her slightly in his arms just as he had done when she was a child scared of the thunder and lightning outside of her window. She had just revealed to him a secret that she had bared on her shoulders alone since Albert had slipped into the coma. With her husband in the hospital unresponsive, she was alone with this heartbreaking knowledge.

"I don't know what to do," she cried into his shoulder, allowing the world to slip away from her.

"I'll protect you," Lucas assured her as he placed a small kiss upon the top of her head just as he had done when she was a young girl before hatred ever laid a hand upon their relationship.

"I'll call Zachery to come pick you up," he informed her as she pulled away from him, "I can't take you home right now. I have some things to sort out."

She nodded her head as she wiped away the tears and then chuckled at her own childishness of crying.

"Don't tell anyone about the letter or the threat," she stated as she looked at Lucas and then to Craig, "The both of you."

...

Zachery parked his black Mustang in front of the Martin house. He had a few bumps and bruises from the explosion, but he was no worse for wear. He smiled softly as he looked at the exhausted Salome Martin that looked up to her house with a longing in her eyes.

"Thank you," she whispered as she turned to look at her partner, a soft smile tugged at her lips as she took in his broken flesh.

"Hey," he announced as he patted the steering wheel, "It wasn't a problem. Lucas told me about what happened."

She looked at him with furrowed eyes and asked, "He did what?"

"Yeah he told me that there was some kind of threat made against you," he replied honestly with a shrug of his shoulders, "He wouldn't tell me what kind of threat though."

She closed her eyes in slight irritation and then smiled as she stated coldly, "I shouldn't have expected anything different."

"Hey," he said with a broadening smile that revealed his long canines, "Do you need me to stay the night? I mean I can stay on the couch. Just to make sure that you are safe."

She shook her head as she looked up at him and replied with exhaustion clearly in her voice, "No I'll be fine…but thanks for the offer Zack. You really are too loyal for this world sometimes."

"Sally," Zack asked as he looked over to her, taking in her dark, Gypsy-like beauty and loving every moment of it.

She turned to him and suddenly felt herself pushed back into the window. His lips crashed upon her own lips, nibbling and biting, begging for entrance as his right hand surfed through her dark locks and his left hand found its way under her shirt.

"Zack," she whispered just before his tongue slipped inside of her mouth and his right hand jerked her head back causing her to arch into him as his fingers found their way quickly to her bra to tease her. He moaned as blood surged toward his manhood as he smelled her strange, magnetic scent. He had wanted to touch her sense she had placed her index finger upon his forehead and now he was given that chance as he felt her spreading her legs for him, her stiletto heels moving against the calf of his leg like a cricket chirping its nightly mating call.

As his fingers dared to slowly slip under her bra, he felt a sharp pain come over him. The pain radiated from his calf. Anger filled him as Salome ripped her heel out of his leg and pulled herself out from underneath him. He looked up at her as she exited the car and looked back at him with wickedness in her eyes.

"I don't cheat on my husband," she informed him harshly, "Especially with little worms like you."

He watched in anger and pain as she began to walk toward her house alone, but then quickly turned around on a dime and waltzed back toward him with a large smile upon her face.

"Oh by the way," she stated harshly, "You're fired."

She smiled as she pulled away from the car and sashayed back to her large house, away from her former law partner. She quickly wiped away his brutal kiss that lingered upon her lips as she unlocked the door only to be bombarded with soft jazz music that she had no recollection of putting on before leaving her house.

Salome followed the soft music to her own office in the far corner of the house. She readied herself for whatever psychopath was waiting to kill her. She slowly turned the door knob on her office door and allowed it to open slowly on its own to reveal someone that she had not expected to see.

She snickered at the person that dared to sit in her desk chair. Her eyes burned in anger as she took in the person's dirtied shoes upon her desk.

"Get your feet off my desk," she demanded harshly as she walked toward the home invader and slapped their feet off the desk with an authoritative stance.

* * *

**What a cliffhanger? Is it the killer? Who could it possibly be? **

**What about Zack? Did you see that coming? That kinda blew a hole in the idea that there was an affair between he and Salome didn't it.**

**What do you think?**

**Review :)**


	12. Quoth the Raven

**Chapter 12: Quoth the Raven**

"_Find his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming"-Edgar Allen Poe_

_Thanksgiving Eve, Late 1990's_

_ His heart pounded in his heart like a wild herd of mustangs through the flatland of the Old West as he ran down the deserted Fulton County road. The bright moon stood high in the sky, the cold air made his labored breath visible in the clear winter air. His feet pounded against the pavement as he hurried toward the bridge were broken hearted lovers flung themselves to their death into the cold murky waters below. Fog oozed around him making it impossible for him to see down the road._

"_STAY AWAY FROM ME," he screamed loudly as he stopped upon the bridge and looked around his surroundings frantically. The sound of footsteps echoed through the old rusted bridge that he stood upon. _

_Salome Buck emerged from the fog with a smile upon her features as she tsked him with a wag of her index finger and warned softly, "Careful, you'll wake the dead Mr. Soon To Be Mayor."_

_He shook his head as she stepped in front of him, acting as if there was no such thing as personal space between the two._

"_Now look Sally May," he offered in fear, "I've done talked to Lucas-"_

"_I don't give a damn about my brother, Billy," she hissed and then looked down at the rushing, frigid water below them, "Never have cared about his ignorant political concerns."_

"_Then what do you care about," he asked as he peeked over the railings at the raging water below._

"_My own political concerns of course," she said with a loud chuckle, "Wow, that's a long drop isn't it. I wonder how many people have actually came here and reconsidered jumping to their death."_

"_Sally May," Billy begged as his bottom lip trembled in fear, never had a woman brought him to trembling fear like Lucas Buck's little sister did._

"_You asked me for a favor a few years ago, to save your child from some such illness and I did that," she replied casually as she shrugged her shoulders in a nonchalant way as if she were not about to ask him to do something that he could never take back, "and now I am callin' in that debt."_

_He followed her harsh eyes as a wicked smile stretched across her face causing her to look like the most gruesome of Jack O Lantern's that he had ever seen. She was almost demonic as she stood regally in front of him._

"_Oh," he said shaking his head as he understood what her unspoken words and gaze revealed, "No I can't do that. I have a family."_

"_I want to send a big, bold message to my big brother," Salome informed him happily as she grabbed his lapels and shoved him dangerously to the side of the bridge, "And you are the perfect wrapping paper, Billy boy!"_

_Billy tried to wrap his hands around her wrists, but was too late as he felt air beneath his feet as he was shoved backwards. He watched as she smiled demonically as he fell down upon the jagged rocks that hid just beneath the rough water's surface._

_Salome chuckled as she watched blood stream from his head and whispered, "Sorry, but I do have a lot invested in you not becoming mayor, Billy."_

_She did a small little jump in giddiness as she sashayed away from the murder scene whistling the tune to the Andy Griffith Show as she walked away toward her car hiding just out of the fog's reach. _

_Thanksgiving_

_ Salome and Selena sat on both sides of Lucas Buck at the decorated Thanksgiving table inside of Ms. Holt's boarding house. Caleb sat beside his teacher and devoured the homemade Southern stuffing upon his plate. The other residents of the boarding house ate at their wonderful home cooked meal that Ms. Holt had been kind enough to make all by herself. Silverware clanked as the mismatched people sat at the table to share the holiday together._

"_It's always nice for a family to sit down together," Ms. Holt announced as she glanced over to Salome and Lucas who had been ignoring each other since the start of the mayoral elections that had begun rather early with the biased re-election of the incumbent mayor._

_Salome smiled cheekily at the black woman and replied, "It always is. Why just the other day I was complainin' about how I don't ever get to see my lovely brother, the poor child that lost his family and gained this horrible one, and my brother's loose girlfriend."_

"_Salome," Lucas warned as he glared at her with harsh eyes, "That's not proper table conversation."_

_She smiled at him in anger and turned to Ms. Holt and apologized, "Sorry Ms. Holt. This dinner is fabulous, much better than the food at the cafeteria at college. Dorm food is the worst."_

"_How is school goin' by the-"_

_The screen door at the front of the house was pulled open and slammed quickly behind the intruder. The sounds of boots scuffling against the wooden floor signaled the emergence of the intruder. Ben hurried inside the dining room. His face was pallid as if he had seen a horrifying ghost that rivaled Merlyn-Ann Temple and those damned Indian ghosts. Sweat beaded down his forehead as he looked over to Lucas._

"_What's wrong Ben," Lucas asked as he wiped his lips with the cloth napkin that he had hidden in his lap._

"_Billy McCallister," Ben answered quickly as he wiped his lips in worry._

_Salome smiled wickedly as she reached for a biscuit and buttered it. She smiled as she watched it melt upon the hot white folds of the biscuit._

"_What about him," Lucas asked as he watched Salome out of the corner of his eye._

"_Well, he, ugh," Ben stuttered, "He jumped off the Choctaw bridge late last night."_

_Salome chuckled as she passed the sweet potatoes to the young woman that sat beside her and announced in a bored tone, "Oh Billy never had a lick of sense. I don't know why you endorsed him for mayor."_

"_That's a shame 'bout poor Billy," Ms. Holt said, trying to ignore the hateful glares that Lucas and Salome were exchanging with each other over the festive dinner table._

"_Excuse us for a moment," Lucas announced with a fake smile as he stood from then table and hurried over to his young sister. He latched his large hands onto her arm and jerked her out of her chair and to her feet._

"_Come with me Sally May," he hissed in her ear as he pulled her out of the dining room and into the library across the hall. He closed the doors quickly behind him to allow them the privacy that they so desperately needed in this matter, a matter that had been bubbling throughout Trinity, South Carolina for a long while._

"_You care to explain yourself," Lucas asked._

_She shrugged her shoulders and replied, "I called in an old debt. No different than what you would do."_

"_I invested money on-"_

"_Too bad," she hissed as she glared at him, "You bet on the wrong pony this time, Lucas."_

_He shook his head at his younger sister. They had become increasingly harsh towards each other since she had decided to become involved with the political runnings in Trinity, South Carolina. _

"_What's this really about Salome," he asked, but did not receive an answer from her. She looked away from him, not meeting his gaze as if she were equal parts ashamed for her previous behavior and fear of her big brother._

"_You did something really stupid, Salome Buck," he informed her harshly._

"_Oh please," she hissed as she jerked her eyes back up to meet his own eyes, "you act as if Billy being mayor will save you. Do you know that they laugh at you…behind your back? Selena, Caleb, hell even I do. You've become pathetic, Lucas," she watched as he glared darkly at her but she pressed on, "They laugh at you because you have given him pointless PR campaigns and billboard signs," she screamed in anger, her hands waved to prove her point as she walked passed him, "That is __our__ authority that you are giving away!"_

"_Our authority," he asked with a harsh grin, "There's no our, Sally May. Why did you come back here? You don't care about family."_

_She shrugged her shoulders and replied, "That's were you're wrong. I love Caleb, but I didn't come here for a family reunion. I came back to Trinity for the simple reason to tell you this," she moved toward him and glared at him, refusing to allow him any personal space, "To tell you that I no longer recognize your authority," a dark smile curled around her plump looks as she looked up at her brother, "and that I am taking it just as you did from our father."_

"_You know that I can-"_

"_Kill me," she asked with a simple chuckle, "well," her eyes glittered, "you had that chance and you let it slip away. We both know that that won't be happening any time soon."_

"_So are you going to kill me," he asked, "Is that your plan? Last time I checked killing a sheriff is a crime."_

"_No," she answered quickly, "I'm just taking my proper place to bring in my own authority upon this shithole town. These idiotic," she rolled her eyes, "PR campaigns for McCallister-really? That's giving authority away, that's abdicating our authority!"_

"_I won't let you take this town," he informed her harshly, "I threw Caleb off the stairs to stop him, don't think that I won't do the same to you."_

"_You won't because there isn't a little ghost to save my poor damned soul."_

"_I can refuse to allow you-"_

"_Yes," she announced in subdued anger as she shook her head, "Maybe you haven't fully grasped the subtext of our previous exchange," she stopped as her built up anger exploded and she screamed, "BUT THERE'S A NEW FUCKING AUTHORITY IN TOWN!"_

_..._

Salome smiled as she sat down in her chair behind her desk. Her eyes glared at the woman that had dared to enter her study. No one but Albert and Lucas had stepped foot inside this threshold. She watched as Abigail White's eyes moved over the objects inside her dark office.

Books written on the subjects of the occult and books filled with old law codes lined the large book shelves against the walls. It was obvious by the small smile upon Abby's face that the irony of devils and lawyers being compared to these books was not lost.

The all seeing eye was expressed in a large painting upon the wall behind Salome, greeting anyone that was unlucky enough to enter her dark study. The window behind her was opened slightly to allow fresh air and moonlight inside the slightly cluttered office.

"How'd you get in here," Salome asked as she glared at the young reporter that had found her way inside of her home.

"It was unlocked," Abby answered casually.

Salome smiled at her simple answer and waved toward the decanter set filled with burning amber liquor in the corner of her office, "Can I offer you a drink?"

"I helped myself," Abby answered cheekily, "Good stuff."

"It's 20 year old Scotch, it better be," Salome answered with a proud smile, "Now," her eyes glittered as she looked at the reporter, "you gonna tell me what you're doing snoopin' in my house or do you need to stay the night in a cage with Trinity's own star photographer?"

"You told me to leave. Why?"

Salome chuckled at the young woman's words and replied, "You sure do care about Mary, don't you?"

"I love her," Abby argued, "You keep her out of this!"

"No you don't," Salome announced as she waved off the reporter's retorts, "You love yourself. If you did love the poor girl, you wouldn't be here right now with me," she leaned back in her chair in triumph, "Now what do you really want?"

"The truth."

"Be more specific," Salome informed her with a chuckle as the flutter of bird wings entered the room. A crow perched upon the book shelf regally. She smiled at the black feathered bird and announced with a smile, "Hello Edgar."

Abby looked over to the intruding bird that looked at her with almost demonic black eyes that seemed to pierce into her soul.

"Sorry my lovely pet does enjoy listening in," Salome informed her with a smile as she gave a soft smile to the tamed animal that cawed at her.

"Fitting that your pet is an omen of death," Abby replied quickly as she forced herself to look away from the dark eyed bird.

"Not in all cultures," she informed the young reporter, "Now, I'm sure you didn't break into my house to talk about my bird."

"Why can't I find anything about this town in the history records," Abby asked with a fire in her eyes as she glared at the lawyer that sat lazily in the desk chair.

"It's there," Salome corrected her, "You just haven't been askin' the right people. Mrs. Mally Mae, bless her lil ol' heart, but she isn't the one ask about the history that you are looking for."

"That's why I am asking you," Abby informed her, "What happened in this town? Why is it so much more secretive than any other town I've been in?"

"Because Trinity isn't any other town," Salome answered defensively of her town, "Do you know what a crossroad is?"

"The Devil's Playground."

Salome chuckled at the answer and replied hotly, "So much like a reporter. You can answer every question, but knows absolutely nothing."

"Then what is it?"

"It's a mixture of things, different beliefs thrown over the century. Mostly European, some African history," Salome recited as if she were reading a world fact book to the reporter, "There are several different beliefs, thousands actually. Now the most common in the South is the hoodoo uses," she waved her hand in boredom as she continued to explain, "You have your casual love/hate bonding spell bullshit. Then there's what it really is."

"And that is?"

"A place where demons lurk to collect on the debts and where the Devil rests his weary feet," she answered casually, "What better place to do that than in the South where hospitality is almost a rule of law?"

"Bullshit," Abby hissed as the crow cawed loudly upon his perch above the two women.

"You've seen her haven't you," Salome asked, "The squaw?"

Edgar cawed again as the Indian woman appeared in corner of the room at the announcement of her presence. She stared absently into the darkness, ignoring the living people around her.

Salome chuckled and replied in her most stereotypical southern black voice that she could muster up, "You go out there about four a'clock, an' start a-pickin' at de fiddle. Yo' go jis' onest. An' they says de devil came out an' take it, jis' somepin will pull it from you, you jis' give up to it. An' he'll tune up an' hand it back to you and you start to play . You can pick any song you want to pick as long as you sell your soul to the devil."

She chuckled loudly at her own amazing skills at mocking the old black men and women that she had on occasion spoken to in her life.

"Stop it," Abby hissed, "You expect me to believe this Charlie Daniel's bullshit?!"

"Of course I do," Salome said happily, "It's right in front of you. You want to know what happened to this town, well I'll tell you. My family protects this town. We run it with an iron fist as you yourself have witnessed."

"Go," Abby bid.

Salome smiled as she laid her head back against her chair and revealed, "Our many times great grandfather had a little problem back in the day. That little tribe got it into their head that they were going to avenge all the other Indians that were lost to the attempted extermination of them. You see Andy Jackson didn't like the Indian folks," she shrugged her shoulders and continued, "So they came into town and killed every man, woman, and child in this town."

"Except for the Buck family?"

"It was a Buck that gave them the power to kill the townspeople," she announced darkly, "He went to the crossroads and sold his family to the devil to rule Trinity in each generation. He was an evil, vile man that used them Indians as weapons."

"Then why are they still here," Abby asked as she looked over to the Indian and then back to Salome.

"He slaughtered them after he was finished using them," she confided, "See, he didn't like the Indian peoples either…and now one child per generation rules with complete authority."

"And what about you? You're the youngest?"

"Lucas is the strongest of the both of us," she informed him, "He killed our father and took his place. He took most of the authority, and blessed me with life. I should be thankful to him. I've never properly thanked him for that."

A deathly still silence enveloped the room as Abby digested what Salome had just revealed to her.

Salome allowed a wicked smile to come across her face as she looked at the young reporter and reminded, "You didn't chose Trinity, Ms. White. Trinity chose you," she smiled as she watched the harsh realization come over Abby's face, "I expect now that you since you have your story that you will hurry it on out of Trinity as fast as you can."

Abby shook her head. Trinity had chosen her. It had tugged and nagged at her heart as soon as her boss had told her about the senator's condition. It had enticed her with the mysterious and tainted her soul.

"Go north Ms. White," Salome offered with a wicked, knowing grin upon her features.

"Why?"

"Because," Salome answered with a lifted brow, "Trinity is the crossroads. There's only one road, but there's two ways out of this town, and if you aren't listenin' to me then you are heading the wrong way."

Abby looked at Salome with slight fear in her eyes as she looked into Salome's bright blue eyes and asked, "What about Mary?"

"Forget about her. Fame is much tastier alone," Salome informed her with a bright, knowing smile, "Besides that squaw bitch has already stolen the soul from her when Mary jumped out of the window. It was bound to happen sooner or later. Mary Murphy isn't known for her strong spirit."

Salome smiled brightly as she watched Abby hurry out of her office. She quickly turned to her phone and smiled as she dialed a used number. A smile crossed her face as the southern voice on the other end of the line answer.

"Yeah," she said with a wicked smile on her face, "she just left," she twirled the white telephone cord around her index finger as she listened to the man on the other end of the line.

"I told her to go north."

...

Zachery turned the engine off as he parked in front of Selena's house where he had parked countless times before in the same spot where countless other men had parked countless times as well. He exited his car in a rage and slammed the door loudly. Rage bubbled inside of his tall frame as he relived the brush off that Salome Martin had given him only a half hour ago.

He quickly composed himself as he watched the kitchen light turn on for him. He hurriedly walked across the gravel road toward her door and knocked upon it lightly. He smiled as he watched her slowly open the door and stand lazily against the door frame.

Selena looked up at him with a bored expression upon her face as she took in his disheveled appearance.

"Burnin' the midnight oil with Salome Martin I see," Selena announced, jealousy filling her voice as she looked into his dark, angered eyes.

Zachery rushed at her with sparkling eyes. His large hand grasped around her thin neck tightly and shoved her backwards as he closed the door behind him. He kissed her violently and passionately, just the she had always liked it from him as he pushed her towards the bedroom where every other man in Trinity had shared with her.

"Fuck Salome," he hissed in her ear as he shoved her into the wall and pressed her body tightly against it with his chest, "Now lift your skirt."

"I ain't that type of girl," Selena whispered as she pushed his grabby hands away from him.

Rage coursed through his veins once again at the second brush off. He raised his hand high above his head, readying himself to smack Selena across the cheek for her behavior.

"Do it," she demanded harshly as she watched him drop his threatening hands and kiss her once again.

...

Abby hurried through her apartment grabbing her very few belongings as she moved through the apartment with almost cheetah like speed. She held the recorder in her hand tightly; a smile enveloped her features at what had been recorded. She had gotten all of Salome's ramblings about how Lucas had murdered their father. She could bring down this town with what she held.

A harsh wailing, almost as if a wild banshee had appeared, echoed violently through her small apartment that she had once shared with her lover. A burning presence behind her seemed to glare daggers into her back. She turned quickly only to see the shutters on every window in the small apartment burst open with a loud groan of pain as if the house were being physically attacked by something not natural to this world. A hot wind blew through the opened windows as the screaming and the groaning became louder and louder.

Fear pushed Abby away from the violently moving window shutters as the hot wind blew her hair around her face. A loud pop sounded behind her that caused her to turn around to see the lights surging and the lights from the ceiling fan above her burst into small shards around her. She screamed in fear as she hurried toward the door and escaped the seemingly possessed apartment.

Abby hurried into her car with her heart pounding in her chest as she opened the car door and threw her few bags into the passenger seat. She hurriedly started the car with shaking hands and backed the car out of the apartment lot. She turned south on the Fulton County road and sped away in the opposite direction that Salome had told her to leave in.

As she drove down the empty, dark Fulton County road, the radio poured out the old tune "Crossroads" by Robert Johnson, the very man that had supposedly sold his soul to the Devil at the crossroads. She shook her head at the uncountable cosmic jokes that Trinity seemed to enjoy thrusting upon her.

She looked down at the recorder that she still held tightly in her hand. It was her lifeline now, her path to success as a reporter. She could forget about the devil's bullshit, she had a murder confession upon it. She just had to make it the county line and she would be safe to expose the political crookedness in this town.

A low caw caught her attention and caused her to look up to see a crow slamming into the windshield. Glass flew around her from the bird's impact. Abby screamed as she lost control of her car on the lonely high way.

The car flipped twice, completely coming off of the pavement, and rolled to a complete stop just moments from the Fulton County line.

Abby moaned as pain ripped through her body, but she forced herself to take her seat belt off of her to relieve her abdomen of the biting pain of the hard material. Red and blue police lights filled the night air as looked at the broken windshield where the dead crow hung limply within the glass shards, blood dripped freely from the black bird onto the dash.

"Son of a bitch," she moaned as she pushed herself out of the broken window. She ignored the fresh cuts upon her body as she laid on the hard pavement of the road. Fog started to slowly roll in as she watched Lucas Buck swaggering towards her with a large cocky smile upon his face. She could see that he was carrying something in his hand, but she couldn't make out what it was from her place on the ground.

"Hey sheriff," she whispered as she looked up at him. She watched in a slight daze as he bent the stick in his hand and a bright flare took over the night.

"Street safety is a high priority in Trinity mam," Lucas announced as he looked down at her.

Abby's eyes widened as she watched the murderous sheriff remove his handcuffs from his belt and grab her limp wrist. He drug her closer to the car and cuffed her to the steering wheel of the car.

"Now what are you doing," Lucas asked as he watched Abby yank at her metal bonds violently in an attempt to escape, "You're shakin' like one of our football players with chiggers in his jock strap."

"You can't do this," she screamed at him as she watched him turn away from her and place the burning flare into the gas tank.

"Oh, I think I can," Lucas replied darkly as he glared down at the busybody reporter, "Coroner will find that you have twenty year old Scotch in your system, and it will just be chalked up as a drunken accident. Hell, they'll accept that answer. We've got our own alcoholic murderin' doctor in our little asylum. You tried meeting Dr. Matt Crower? Tried to kill me, went insane after he killed his family in a drunken accident."

"Don't do this," she hissed as she glared up at him, her arms flailing as she tried to escape the metal handcuffs.

"I'm just collectin' on my debt," Lucas informed her as he kneeled down beside her to see the shining recorder upon her stomach. He quickly pocketed the piece of evidence with a smile and pulled something else from the folds of his pockets.

"But," he announced happily as he threw a dull pocket knife down beside her, "I do believe in giving second chances."

"No," she cried as she watched him stand and swagger away from her and the burning flare. She watched as a woman emerged from the passenger side and leaned upon the hood of the car as Lucas walked toward her.

Salome held a large smile upon her face as she watched her brother walk toward her with the same smile upon his face. She crossed her arms over her chest as she watched the flames from the flare fall to the ground, coming dangerously close to falling inside of the gas tank.

He handed her the recorder and asked, "That conscience eating up at you?"

"Quoth the raven 'Nevermore'," she announced darkly as a wicked smile crossed her face as she turned away from her brother just as the car exploded into large flames that lit up the night sky.

Lucas chuckled proudly at his young sister as he watched her get into the passenger seat. He moved to get into the driver's seat and reached for the radio to call in the horrible drunken accident.

As he grabbed the walkie talkie from its holding place, he noticed Salome shaking like a leaf in an oncoming hurricane. Her eyes were filled with worry and fear as he looked her over.

"Sally May," he asked as he placed a protective hand upon her shoulder.

He was she clicked the play button upon the recorder. A distorted male voice on the other end of the line chuckled wickedly at the both of them.

"Sally May, Sally May," the distorted voice announced in a sing song voice, "Time's a tickin'. Sacrifice yourself at the crossroads or Senator Martin dies tonight."

She turned to Lucas with a new found anger in her eyes at the threat and demanded, "You take me home and the you get to Albert as quick as you can."

"Sally May," Lucas informed her as he threw the car in reverse, "I'm not letting you do this alone."

"You're not," she informed him quickly, "Call Zack on his cell phone, tell him to come to my house. He can help watch if someone is snooping around."

"Salome," Lucas started to argue.

"Lucas," she screamed in anger, "You do this for me. If I don't make it back to the hospital, then you know where I am," she paused and shook her head, "And if I don't make it, you make sure that Albert will be okay. Lucas please, he means more to me than anything in this world. I can't lose him like that. Do that for me."

* * *

**And there is the wonderfully long chapter 12.**

**So what do you think about all this mess? **


	13. Voodoo Moon

**Chapter 13: Voodoo Moon**

"_He's not underground, he's not in the air, he's not in that book you take everywhere. The Devil wears a suit, he lives in the town, he lives on the street, in your home, in your bed." –Kate Miller-Heidke_

Zachery sped down the Fulton County road at a breakneck speed. Rain sprinkled from the dark sky. 3:10 blinked in bright green letters upon his radio as he hurried down the highway, looking for the one person that could end his self-hatred, Salome Martin.

"You're so stupid," he hissed at himself as he banged his hand against the black steering wheel. He hurriedly made his way back toward Salome's large estate where she was staying the night alone on this horrible, eventful night. Mixed emotions filled him as he thought about his southern queen of a boss.

The monotone lilt of the road was quickly interrupted as his car phone rang loudly. His thoughts on how he had screwed up with Salome earlier vanished as he picked the phone up quickly.

"Salome," he answered with a quickened tone, his breath catching in his voice as thoughts of how he would apologize entered his mind.

"No," the male voice on the other end of the line answered in slight annoyance. "It's Sheriff Buck," the voice continued, "I'm going to need you to check up on Sally May for me."

"Sure, Lucas," he answered quickly, a bright smile painting his face at the convenient request, "Is something wrong?"

"Nothing too major," Lucas informed him with a slight chuckle, "Salome just went over to my home. She didn't want to be alone in her house for the night, with what has gone on tonight."

Zachery chuckled at the man's words and replied casually as if he had not just been in a large explosion, "We've both had a pretty eventful night."

"Will you check up on her?"

His smile twirled into a dark, wicked smile at the sheriff's request. He nodded at the request and added, "Sure. No problem."

"Now if the door is locked," Lucas started, "The key is under the gargoyle."

"Okay, under the gargoyle, got it," he answered as he turned his car around, wheels squealed as he sped back into the direction of Buck Mansion.

"Thank you Zack," Lucas announced and quickly hung up on him.

Zachery couldn't help the chuckle that escaped him. He hadn't really wanted to go to Salome's home where occult idols hung around in hidden places. They had always put him on edge when he had looked upon them, especially the African mask in Albert Martin's office.

He quickly made his way down the well-manicured street in which Buck Mansion had rested upon for years since before the Civil War. Somehow, as if by God's own hand or by magic, the beautiful brick and white Greek pillared Southern mansion had survived the Yankees brutal attack and dissamation of the South.

He pulled his car to the side of the road and quickly parked. Giddiness bubbled inside of him as his plans formed inside of him, plans that urged him forward through his life. He hurried toward the large, stately house and opened the barred gate that led up to the paved walk toward the large, neighborly porch. As he walked into the yard, a strange, hot wind blew violently around him as if trying to warn him to not come any closer to the cursed home. The smell of sulfur overpowered the air as he forced himself forward; ignoring the want to gag on the awful smell that had been given to describe the smell of Hell where the Devil and his minions frolicked in sin…just like Lucas and Salome, along with their cohorts had done for years in Trinity, South Carolina. He had known that when he had first been introduced to her.

Grotesque gargoyles looked down at him from the edges of the balcony. Their sneers sent a slight fear through him as he walked up to the door and placed his hand upon the knob pushing the unlocked door open almost immediately as if the house had been awaiting his arrival.

Lit candles greeted Zachery as he walked into the old home. The house held an ancient air to it that he could not place his hand upon, he felt as if he should be walking on eggshells as he entered the house that few had rarely been given the chance to see. Mahogany furniture that had been made during the 1860s looked back at him. The house was immaculate and large book shelves looking back at him. Books on topics such as the ancient history of law, law codes, classic novels, and many, many books upon the Occult looked back at him as he made his way deeper into the home.

"Sally May," he announced his presence to the darkened home. A loud clap of thunder rumbled somewhere in the distance.

"There you are," a familiar female voice announced sensually from behind him.

He turned quickly to see the door that he had left open close with a loud bang only to reveal Selena hiding in the dark corner with a wicked, almost demonic white smile upon her beautiful sharp face.

"What are you doin' here Zack," she asked with a knowing smile as she looked him over, his face seemed panicked but yet he was still in control of his deeper, darker emotions.

"I could ask you the same thing," he answered.

Selena chuckled at his answer as she shrugged her shoulders and walked deeper into the house where she used to reside during her nightly escapades with the sheriff of Trinity, South Carolina, the man that she had been truly in love with, but had broken her heart on a many of occasion with his bitter resentment and hateful attitude.

"I asked first," she informed him with a coy smile.

He didn't answer her question, but instead asked, "How'd you get in here?"

"You aren't the only one that I service," she informed him with a wicked smile upon her face, "I do have my boots under many," she moved closer to him and whispered sensually into his ear, "many men's beds."

He raised his brow as he looked down at her; a smile was forming on his face as he looked down into her dark brown eyes.

"What do you want with Sally May?"

"How'd you know that I wanted to speak with her," he asked.

"I have my ways," she answered mysteriously.

He shook his head and shrugged his shoulders at her simple, yet meaningful answer and lied, "We need to go over her most recent client's history of violence. Do you know where she is? Lucas said that she was here."

"Well as you can see Lucas doesn't always tell the truth," Selena informed him casually as she looked him over, taking in each movement that he made around her, "Especially if he doesn't trust you."

"Where is she?"

She smirked at the young handsome lawyer that she had just had sex with only a half hour ago and replied, "Lucas has her hidden away, what with that creep going around trying to blow her into tiny chunks."

"Where," he asked, becoming quickly unamused by her banter and running around the bush.

"Right where you left her," Selena answered knowingly with a growing wicked smile that painted her features, revealing to him exactly why Lucas had used her for so long. She was an effective temptress and had used him for information that she would give to Lucas, that's why she was here waiting for him. That's why Lucas had sent him here instead of to Salome's house where he had planned on going to.

Lucas Buck did not trust Zack.

"You plannin' on killin' her," Selena asked as she watched Zack hasten toward the door. She smiled as he turned on his heel and looked at her with a look of quick panic on his face, but he quickly tried to hide it away.

He didn't answer her.

"I wouldn't blame you," Selena informed him with a casual shrug of her shoulders, "But a piece of friendly advice, make sure you do actually kill her. Those Bucks are hard to kill and if you do try to kill them, it only causes to piss them off even more than they already are."

"How-"

"I tried to kill Lucas one time and then helped in killing his unborn child," she said as she cast her eyes away from Zachery as shame passed through her body. She smiled as the dark haired man hurried out of the house that she had once a mind to call her own, leaving her alone to relive those horrible, bitter moments from years before.

...

The lights in the hospital flickered as the approaching thunderstorm made its way violently closer to Trinity. The hospital was quiet as Lucas stood at the door, leaning against it lazily, looking in on his brother-in-law that lay still and comatose on the hospital bed. He stood in the same place where he had stood when Albert was first brought in here, where he watched his younger sister weep for her comatose husband.

The sudden sounds of wailing from a woman vibrated throughout the room causing Lucas to stand straight up at attention. He looked around the small room to see no sign of unwanted ghosts or ghouls, only the sound of the rain that beat violently at the glass window and the rhythmic beeps from Albert's monitors sounded throughout the room.

"Lucas," the hurried voice of Dr. Billy Peele announced as he hurried into the room, holding Albert's file along with a long fax paper close to his chest, "Someone intentionally poisoned the senator!"

"What?"

Lucas quickly looked over to the pallid skin of the aging man that his sister had fallen head over heels in love for. His attention quickly snapped back to the doctor that had been sent from the CDC during Merlyn Temple's little plague shower as he ruffled the fax papers in his hands.

"And you're just finding this out now," Lucas asked in slight anger at the incompetence of the doctors that had worked in this hospital. The Fulton County Hospital was known for their horrible doctors: Dr. Crower, who had tried to kill him, the head doctor of the hospital that had allowed Lucas to be buried alive after his near assassination, and now Dr. Billy Peele from the United States Center of Disease Control.

"It didn't show up in the results," Billy answered as he hurried over to Albert to check his vitals, "because we weren't lookin' for what was put in his system. We were lookin' for commonly used poisons."

"And what kind of poison was used on him exactly," Lucas asked as his brows furrowed at the ecstatic young doctor.

"A combo of venoms," he answered quickly.

"Like snakes," Lucas asked suspiciously.

"Yep," Billy answered as he injected a clear liquid inside of Albert's IV, "along with venom of the puffer fish and a plant called Datura stramonium."

Lucas' eyes widened at the name of the plant, a plant that he knew very, very well.

"Jimson weed," he asked with furrowed brows.

Billy looked over at him and smiled, "Yeah. I never took you for the horticulture type."

"No," Lucas admitted, "But when people go around with zombie powder tryin' to turn my people into the undead-"

"Zachery came lookin' for your sister," a new voice interrupted from behind them. Both men turned around to see Selena standing in the door frame with a wicked smile upon her face along with wet hair and clothes from the sudden down pour.

"He seemed awfully worried," she added with a smile as she noticed Billy looking over her with a longing that he had tried to bite down after he had broken up with her long ago.

"Selena," Lucas hissed in growing anger and annoyance as he looked at the woman that brought back horrible memories of her role in Gail's miscarriage and eventual coma, "I thought I made it clear that I don't want to see you anywhere-"

"Where'd you leave Salome," she asked, ignoring his harsh, bitter words that secretly stung her heart to its core. Thunder roared behind her and lightning struck causing the lights to flicker once again.

"At her own home," he answered.

"I'm only tellin' you this," she admitted softly as she looked up to him and tears formed in her eyes as memories of their time together and the love that she still felt for him rushed through her body, "because I still care about you and your family. Zack Wallace has a score to settle with your little sister. I don't know what it is, but there is one."

Lucas looked at her suspiciously, looking over her face, a face that was always easy for him to read to see if there were any sign of lying upon her features.

"How do you know about this?"

"Lucas, you suspected him all along haven't you," she asked with a shrug of her shoulders, "That's why you sent him to your house instead. He told me in…" she stopped and walked closer to him as the tears burned at the corner of her eyes, "Buck Mansion."

Lucas felt his heart sink at that information that his old girlfriend had given him. He hurriedly turned away from her, grabbing his brown jacket quickly at the door. He turned to her and pointed at her warningly.

"We aren't finished here, Selena."

A smile crossed her face, a smile of promise and hope, as she watched him rush out of the slow, sluggish hospital hallways and out into the violent storm that raged outside.

"Promises, promise," she whispered with a bright smile as she turned to look over to the comatose senator that had been lucky enough to find love in this loveless town. Hope bubbled inside of her as she thought about Lucas' promise to her about them not being finished. She was happy that he would eventually give her the attentions that she so missed from him.

...

Salome smiled as she stood in her bright, well adorned living room. She held a beautifully crafted fiddle decorated in pure gold that curled in beautiful, intricate designs upon the dark wood in her hands and smiled as she allowed her long fingers to run along the smooth craftsmanship of the instrument.

Her door opened with a loud bang and she smiled at the expected visitor, though she kept her back to him.

She stood in front of a bookshelf in a beautiful white silk nightgown that flowed to her ankles with her long, dark hair flowed freely in curls around her neck. She seemed to be an angel out of a fairy tale as she stood in front of the window with the fiddle in her hand watching the rough weather move violently over her home. The howls of the wind billowed against the house as a wicked smile crossed her face.

"Sally May," Zack's voice announced as he watched her slowly turn around with a wicked smile upon her face, "Are you okay? Lucas called and said-"

"I'm fine," she reassured with a large smile as she pulled the bow across the newly tuned fiddle strings to emit an evil hiss that filled the room.

"Salome," he said solemnly as he took a deep breath, "I wanted to apologize for what happened earlier. It wasn't right and it won't happen again."

"Oh," she announced dismissively as she waved her hand toward him, "Bygones. It's olive branch time. I don't think we've ever argued over something so silly," she rolled her eyes, "Passions were high," she studied him carefully as a simple smile came over her features, "We survived an assassination attempt together for hell's sake…by your cigarette I might add."

He looked at her with confusion on his face at her chosen words to describe the explosion that happened only hours ago.

"Do you think I had something to do with that," he asked with furrowed brows as he watched her. A dark intent filled the room and sucked all of the oxygen out of the room, threatening to suffocate him as he was under her sharp gaze as if she were an intelligent bird of prey perched high awaiting for its simpleminded prey.

Salome looked into his eyes and held his stare for a good while before answering, "Of course not. You are my most trusted partner. In fact, I'm offering you your job back. I acted rash over nothing, honestly."

Zachery smiled at her proposal and said, "How can I refuse that? Of course!"

"Great," she announced with a happy smile, "How about a drink?"

"Just like the first time I accepted your job offer?"

"Exactly," she said as she turned away from him and pointed to the liquor cabinet, "The bar is over there."

He watched her with a detailed eye as she placed the bow upon the strings of the fiddle, tuning it quickly with a smile on her face as if her husband and her life hadn't just been threatened. He listened as the bow skidded against the finely tuned strings. He smiled at the sounds that escaped the instrument that she held in her long fingers, it seemed as if she were born with a fiddle in her hands. The sound of The Devil Went Down to Georgia by Charlie Daniels escaped from the strings in perfect unison to the song that he had heard countless times on the radio.

"I didn't know you could play," he announced as he poured the amber colored liquor into glass whiskey glasses. He pulled the glasses in his hands, smiling at the gentle clink of the glass. He hid a smile of wicked intent covered his face.

"I was always the more cultured from the Buck clan," she informed him with a proud smile.

He turned with a smile and walked across the floor toward where she stood at the window. He smiled as he watched her set the fiddle down on a book shelf and grab the glass from him with a simple smile that graced her sharp features.

"Where is Sheriff Buck tonight," he asked as he made himself at home in her house and sat down upon the soft leather couch in the middle of the living room, positioned so he could watch her movements with a close eye as she gently sipped upon the hot amber liquid in her glass.

"Oh," she said as if nothing was amiss with the dangerous situation that she was soon to enter into, "There was a really bad car wreck on the North road, right at the city limit sign. The volunteer fire department had to go in as well apparently."

"Do you know who it was," he asked, feigning interest. He watched as her brow rose with questioning suspicion.

"No idea," she lied with a shrug of her shoulders, "It could be anyone. I would suspect that some drunk from the bar wasn't paying attention to the road and hit a deer or some other poor devil creature."

"How are you doing," he asked quickly, he watched as she downed the last of the bourbon in her glass, "with Albert? I haven't really asked you about how you are doing? I feel selfish."

"As good as to be expected I guess," she answered simply.

"I must admit," he announced with a growing smile, "I didn't expect it to work out as well as it did."

Salome turned quickly to look at him with confusion on her face at his strange words. Her hands began to shake on their own accord as she shook her head at the man that now stood from his sitting position and walked dangerously toward her.

"Who would've known that Dr. Billy Peele from the CDC couldn't see the venom of the puffer fish in your husband's blood samples?"

He chuckled as he watched Salome's legs begin to shake violently and then buckle from her weight. A dark smile came over his face as he watched her try to push herself away from him as her muscles twitched with each move that she made.

"Who would have known that I could so easily," he hissed as he watched the empty glass roll across the floor, "slip hydrochloric acid into your drink without you being suspicious."

* * *

**And that's why they call it cliffhanger!**

**There you have who was sending all those messages and what was wrong with Albert Martin? Shocked? Or did you know who it was?**

**What is to happen to Salome now that he has her? Why is he doing this to her? Will Lucas get to his sister on time?!**

**So many questions! Review! :)**


	14. Sinner Man

**Chapter 14: Sinner Man**

"_It's just another war, just another family torn, just a step from the edge, just another day in the world we live in"- Skillet_

Blood trickled from Salome's chin as another wave of nausea overcame her trembling body as she wobbled on hands and knees, trying with what little strength she had left to stay up. Dry heaves escaped her body as she gagged as another wave of blood flew past her lips and fell upon the Oriental carpet, effectively staining it to the point of no repair.

Zack moved from his seat on the couch and walked to her as she groaned in immense pain, pain that he had inflicted upon her from the inside out. He watched in sick fascination as crimson blood dripped from her red lips as she trembled in front of him from the pain that was coursing through her body.

"Why," he heard her whisper through her painful groans as she desperately tried to fight the waves of trembles that rattled through her dying body.

"Shhh," he whispered as he knelt beside her and pushed her onto her back, "Let me help you."

He smiled as he watched her tremble under him as he positioned himself comfortably on top of her shivering body that was being ravaged by the poison toxins that he had slipped into her drink. He looked into her eyes and a sudden rage filled him. There was no look of betrayal or sadness in her eyes, no look of loss of power that looked back at him like he had anticipated, that he had craved for. Instead, her eyes reflected nothing but cold indifference even as her body quivered in immense pain as if she were daring him to try and steal the life out of her eyes. He knew that she was strong, but he never thought that she was this strong. She wouldn't allow him the benefit of seeing her as anything but a cold play thing of the Devil.

"Let's get you comfy," he whispered as he looked down at the white silk nightgown that she wore, he could see the outline of her panties and her nipples through the thin material and it caused his mind to reel in slight excitement. His hands moved to her thigh where her gown had rode up when she was pushed onto her back. He quickly pulled it down to hide her thigh, for modesty's sake. His eyes moved from her cold, judgmental eyes and to her chest, where the pain that was absent in her eyes was clear to be seen. His hand cupped her heaving left breast as she tried desperately to breathe. He watched as she closed her eyes to await the worst that he had to bring her.

"I feel like I should be offended," he whispered as he allowed his thumb to message her breast lightly, in hopes of relieving her of some of the pain that was coursing through her body from her stomach. He smiled as he leaned over her juddering body and placed small, soft, sympathetic kisses upon her heaving chest as if he had been a long lost lover come back from the war to reclaim what had been his before he had gone overseas.

"Your skin is so cold Sally," he whispered as he looked up from her cleavage and up to her now open eyes; cold indifference still shown in the blue eyes that radiated back at him.

"Let me tell you how this is going to go," he said in a dangerous purr as an equally dangerous smirk crossed his handsome features, "First you will find that it will be very hard to speak, it will be too painful, but that's okay because women who talk too much aren't that attractive, then you will be in an almost," he chuckled, "catatonic dream like place, this is when your body starts shutting down on you, and then finally you die an agonizing death."

Blood gushed from her mouth once again as she forced her head to turn, expelling the hot blood from her mouth and onto the floor.

Zack smiled at her as he added, "I made all this happen 'specially for you Salome! I learned a few things while I lived in New Orleans, like how to make toxins that can rid a grown man comatose and how to mix poisons," he wiped the blood away from her gently as if she were a messy baby eating mushed vegetables, "I bet you are wondering why I chose you, aren't you?"

Salome looked at him with cold eyes, hate and anger quickly filled them as she glared up at him. She forced a smile upon her face as pain erupted through her body with each move she made.

"I will sssssssssskinnnnnn you," she hissed, in a dangerous snake like tone.

He laughed as he watched her shake violently underneath him after her empty threat. He watched with earnest interest as she tried to fight the poison that coursed through her body. He had to admit that she was a fighter. He watched in confusion as she began to seize underneath him and chant in haunting whispers one single word: "Sinner Man". She chanted it over and over as she soon slipped into an almost delusional state. Her eyes stared at the door as Zack sat atop her.

_Salome Buck, a young prepubescent girl with long, dark hair in a ponytail hurried up toward the porch to her family's large home. She wore a red and gold flannel button up shirt with faded blue jeans that were stained with the river mud from a long day of catching crabs with chunks of chicken that her brother had bought her that morning. She opened the door with a large smile on her face to tell her parents about her adventure across the train trestle where many a young lover had taken their lives during Vietnam and had not seen a single ghost there. _

_Her smile faded away quickly at the scene that was laid out in front of her. Her heart fell into her stomach as she looked down at her very pregnant mother lying lifelessly at the bottom of the stairway._

"_Momma," she screamed as she hurriedly knelt down beside her mother. A large bloody halo surrounded her mother's once clean brunette locks. Her mother's eyes were looking skyward lifelessly and a small smile tugged at the dead woman's lips as if she had seen the Angel of Death, an angel that was so beautiful that words could not do her beauty justice._

_A loud thump came from above the two female family members. Salome looked up quickly as another thump echoed down the stairs from her parent's once shared bedroom. Adrenaline and fear pushed her young body forward, away from her mother's dead body, and up the stairs to investigate the noise that had seemingly stopped. Her feet and her heart pounded like the hooves of a herd of wild mustangs thundering through a mountainous range as she bolted toward the bedroom. _

_Salome stopped short of entering the room. The bedroom door had been left open, a peculiar scene in the Buck household. Her observant mind went into overdrive as she forced herself to step over the doorframe and into the bedroom. Her eyes widened as she looked at the once beautiful tan painted walls of her parent's bedroom only to see that someone had written all over the walls. The words "__**Forgive Me"**__, "__**I Have Sinned"**__, and __**"Cursed Sinner Man"**__ looked back at her in black and red ink from a permanent marker._

"_Little tramp," her father's voice billowed from behind her. She turned to see her father standing behind her with dark anger in his eyes as he glared down at her with a shovel held tightly in his hand._

"_Shoulda never been born," he screamed at her as he approached her dangerously._

"_Daddy," she screamed as she ducked, barely missing being hit by the sharp shovel. She rushed away from her deluded father as he screamed curses at her. _

"_There can only be one," he screamed at her as he lashed out at her with the shovel once again, grazing her left shoulder dangerously, "I'll be damned if I let you or your brother take that power away from me!"_

_He smiled as he cornered his daughter. He held the shovel threateningly in his hands, his knuckles turning white as he glared at her with intense rage in his eyes. He readied himself to deliver the final blow that would kill his daughter with a dangerous grin painted upon his sharp facial features that his son had inherited from him. _

"_Daddy," she cried as tears fell down her slightly chubby face, "It's me, your little Sally May."_

"_Tramp," he screamed as he lounged forward. Salome closed her eyes as she awaited the quick death that her father would deliver her. A hard hand gripped her arm and jerked her out of the corner. She opened her eyes quickly to see Lucas hurrying at their father, his hands wrapped around the shovel which lent him the leverage to push his father out of the bedroom and away from his little sister._

_She watched as her father and brother struggled against each other. Lucas finally overcoming his father and ripping the shovel out of the man's hands, she watched as her father quickly lost his balance and fell into the banister where he fell to the ground far below with a loud bang where his death was immediate and less painful than the death that he would have delivered to Salome. _

_She looked up to see her brother looking down at the shovel curiously and then quickly threw it away from him as if it were beckoning him to finish the job that his father had started. Salome watched as her older brother looked over to her with the same murderous look that she had seen in their father's eyes only moments ago. Hot tears quickly filled her eyes as she watched her older brother walk slowly, almost predator like towards her._

"_Lucas," she begged in fear as he slowly approached her._

"_Close your eyes," he demanded softly as he watched the hot tears fall from his sister's blue eyes. _

"_Lucas."_

"_Do as I say," he hissed, losing his temper momentarily with his little sister, "Don't make me ask again."_

_She nodded at his words and quickly did as he said. Hot tears escaped her closed eyes as she waited for whatever her brother had in mind. Neither death nor pain came over her small body as she had expected, but a soft yet strong warmth came over her body as Lucas wrapped his protective arms around her. He picked her up from the ground as if she were a sack of potatoes and held her close to him. She could feel his beating heart against her own chest._

"_Keep your eyes closed," he whispered into her ear as he carried her out of the destroyed bedroom and down the stairs where they walked by the bodies of their dead parents and unborn sibling._

"_I'm scared," she whispered as she disobeyed him and looked down at her mother and father that lay side by side on the floor, their blood mixing into one large ocean of blood. She quickly hid her head into his neck and allowed her emotions to escape her child's body._

"_I won't let anyone ever hurt you," he whispered into her, "I promise you, Sally May."_

"I never did like you Salome," Zack informed her limp body that stared off into the past. She could no longer speak to answer his harsh words as he glared down at her.

"The only reason I was loyal to you for so long was because I wanted power," he informed her, "You gave me a taste of that power," he chuckled, "So in a way this is your fault. If you would have just fucked me and gave me absolute control over you, this wouldn't have ever happened. Your husband would have just miraculously woken up and all those messages would cease to exist."

He pulled her head back to look at him. He smiled down at her as he looked into her dilated eyes that looked absently back at him as if the real Salome had disappeared and left only the shell of the strong woman that had once lived inside.

"There is an imbalance in the world when a woman is in a higher position of power. It's unnatural," he informed her, "It isn't how it's supposed to be. Women," he chuckled harshly as he looked down at the woman below him, the woman that had held significant power in Trinity, "should never be more powerful than a man. You didn't follow those rules, Sally May, just like my poor ex-girlfriend," he ran his index finger over her bare arm, stopping at the crook of her arm as memories of killing his ex crossed his mind again, "The world was made for the dominating man; it's been that way since the cave men days."

How air blew passed the both of them that caused him to turn his head in the direction that Salome had been staring at just as she had slipped into her catatonic state. He watched as crimson blood oozed from the walls and splattered upon the door, creating the words "Sinner Man" and "Unforgiven" upon the white painted door.

Zack smiled down at her and placed a soft kiss upon her blood stained lips just as red and blue lights infiltrated the dark room that they inhabited together.

"May you find peace Salome," he whispered sincerely as he quickly pushed himself off of her and disappeared unnoticed out the back door just as Lucas hurried in the front door.

Lucas stopped quickly as he saw his baby sister lying motionless on the ground with blood staining her pale face. He hurried toward him and quickly knelt down beside her.

"Salome," he whispered as he pulled her upper body off the floor and into his arms, her body lying limp against his chest. He held her protectively as he looked down at the empty glass that lay forgotten beside her on the floor.

"Keep your eyes open Salome," he begged as he pushed her bangs out of her eyes to see them looking up at him. He watched as she tried to fight her drooping lids as she looked up at him absently.

"Don't close your eyes, little sister," he demanded as he pulled her into his arms, carrying her bridal style with her head against his chest out of the house and into his car, just as he had done years ago.

* * *

**Will she survive? What is to happen to Salome?**

**What's the significance of "Sinner Man"? Or does it mean anything at all?**

**What will happen to Zack when and if Lucas gets him?**

**What about Salome and Lucas' father? What do you think about that?**

**Reviews make my day :)**


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